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Work returned on Friday mid day, so the restless, aimless holiday weeks have found some direction, if only for a few hours yesterday afternoon. A bit strange to just be floating around with the whole family present. Kind of nice too though. Well, at least while the kids aren’t fighting over anything anyway. They can only do “nothing” for so long before they get bored and attack one another. Not to say we haven’t done anything. Two family Christmas parties, Christmas Day, our last climbing session until the next level starts up again. Play date at the farm, followed by a play date elsewhere & a pizza party, plus we went to go see Sonic 3. So while it has been quiet, we haven’t done absolutely nothing. I think we have struck a nice balance. I for one feel as though it has been a restful winter break now that we are halfway through it.

And today it is raining. Grrr. Nasty rain. But on the bright side we had a pleasant ride out to go see Christmas lights in Uxbridge on Christmas eve, so that was a good wholesome time for the entire family. Those that came along anyway. We got there as it opened and it was a little lined up, but we were prepared for that. We had stopped for dinner at the drive through, so we each had drinks and a meal to occupy us while we waited for our turn to drive through the fancy lights.

I have even gone so far this break as to turn off my morning alarms so that I could attempt to wake up naturally feeling well rested. My bladder has other plans. So that didn’t work out as planned, but no matter. I have given it the old college try. Ha.

The year ends next week, and a fresh one begins. Mixed emotions about that. I have things to get done with service Ontario in the new year, so I need to figure that out soonish. We have travel plans that require a visit to the notary, so we have to get on that too. Busy – busy.

Happy saturday, the last of 2024.

Typically I talk about the books I’ve read this year in slightly more detail, even though for the most part I discuss them as I read them. But, since I cannot for the life of me recall which books I read this year, after reorganizing my shelves, and having given away four hundred or so titles. I cannot seem to locate them, and I don’t see the point in discussing a partial list. Maybe in a few weeks of thinking, and even more searching I might figure out what/where the gap is, and I can do so then. But for now, no further book talks.

I spent a great deal of time in spring of 2024 in Florida, all around the state. From the Keys, to Orlando, to Tampa Bay, and Clearwater. It was hot, and sunny, and a whole lot of fun. Unfortunately our kids kinda missed the boat on Disney parks. My eldest and I like mega/giga coasters, and the youngest isn’t exactly infatuated by walking silent mascots or characters. Plus it was above 93°F the whole time, and we nearly melted. We much preferred SeaWorld, and Busch Gardens to all three of the Disney parks we visited. I’m glad we went, but next time we will go to Universal Studios instead. Yeah buddy!

We took in our very first NHL game at the Tampa Bay Amalie Station Arena. I bought us some amazing seats four rows back from the ice, just off behind the net. Besides the fog horns, and the smoke machines it was really awesome. Weird to be walking around in ninety degree weather, then sit in an ice rink to watch hockey, then head back outside to overheat once more. Epic! And definitely memorable.

Clearwater beach was absolutely gorgeous too, if a tad crowded. We don’t stay down there so we have to sort out our parking situation on the fly. But renting a cabana with lounge chairs for $50.00 is clearly the right move. We’ve done it twice now, and I can’t complain. It’s great to get out of the direct sun, and not have to sit on the ground in the sand. The white powdery sand is really nice too. Gets hot, so hot. But takes great photos!

Work did pick up in the fourth quarter, so I’m not anywhere near as far behind as I once feared. Which is great! I have work lined up for the new year as well, which is pretty fabulous. This year is good, but to also know I’ve got several thousand dollars worth of work in the winter is a load off my mind. Keep the ball rolling as we head into winter, then head long into tax time. I don’t know what the future holds but I do know I have a couple items lined up, and that’s better than nothing by a wide margin.

This year my wife’s uncle Fred passed away leaving the bulk of the farming to my father in law, and my brother in law. Along with that came all of the jury rigged farm equipment that was well and truly fubared. Spring and fall were both a mess due to weather delays, and various component breakdowns. They got it all in though, and got it all out of the ground too. So there is that accomplishment. We’ve just had the scrap metal salvage people around the farm picking up bits and pieces. So it looks a lot cleaner, even if they could come back every day for a week or more and still not be finished taking every single item lodged in the tree lines, bushes, fields, and drive sheds. Still looks better than it did before, and that’s what counts.

I did not do anywhere near as much wood working or sculpting/painting this year. I replaced my airbrush and took some time to paint up various board game pieces. I also bought some cheap 3d printed D&D minis to paint up with the airbrush for practice. I started on priming my resin kit with it, but due to travel I didn’t get that far along. I can pick that up again in another few weeks if I have a lull. I played a little more guitar & bass this year since I bought all those inexpensive foot pedals to get me a better sound, and to boost my morale towards playing. I noodled on the piano fairly regularly though i did not learn any new songs.

We cleaned up the exterior of the property and removed several trees, and all of the loose brush. Winds storms have added some of that back to the old piles, but that’s a fact of life when you have mature trees in your yard.

We had to trade in the old van for a new one, so that was a pretty big deal for us. But boy is it ever nice to drive something a bit more trustworthy. Nice and roomy on the inside too. Less crowding for when we head north to the cottage next.

This summer two of my brothers came to town with their families and we visited idly Whitby, the Playdium, mini putt, and Wonderland. The day trip to Canada’s Wonderland was brutally hot, but lots of fun. We rode the mega coasters and screamed until we were hoarse. Got on a bunch of rides, and also some got soaked on the White Water Rapids. It was very pleasant, and I hope to do it again with the whole family. Which reminds me, we will soon need to purchase our seasons passes again.

Lots more went on around here, but I have to retain some semblance of mystery! Hope you all had a good year, with another equal or better one on the way. Ciao Bella.

Both kids have been asking for a Nintendo Switch for quite some time so I found one on sale on Amazon that had a game, a one year subscription, tv dock, joy controllers, and a grip controller attachment. Then I spent a relatively long time setting up my two kids accounts, plus one for myself, and then three hours to download the game from the estore. It was a tense exchange while my kids waited for it to become available to play on. Then once it was they were too afraid to try it, so I blasted out a grand prize first place finish on a 50cc race as Yoshi, and then they were cool with it. I did tell them that we weren’t going to buy any games for it until AFTER we see what their aunt & uncle had bought for them in relation to the Switch (if anything at all). I know my youngest wants Smash Bros for $80, but I don’t know what game(s) the older one wants to get/play. She finds too much choice hard to parse and freezes up. Does it all the time. Whether it’s in the candy aisle, toy store, movie choices, you name it. More than two or three options and it’s game over. Might as well pack up, head home, and embrace the ensuing tantrum over a failure to choose anything at all. But I digress.

I have been impressed with Mario Kart 8, I really like it. The gravity defying element is pretty awesome. I like that the music, and general feel are still so similar to the N64 version. And very close to the SNES version at that! Very nostalgic. I need to figure out how to skid into corners again as my lap times weren’t as sharp as they should be. No matter. All this means is that we have an entirely new category of games to look at now too. So much for working without distractions! Ha.

I also somehow managed to get Fortnight up and running on the Xbox for my youngest, as she had been asking about that for a really long time now. I blocked a great many options because she is so little. I have to approve things as they come up, and I limited, to the point of choking out, the chat options. No chat, no third party website visits. I can tighten down controls even more if I feel I need to do so later on.

The next thing they’ll be wanting is a VR headset, so we’ll have to brace ourselves for that. Though with the presence of the brand new switch that might be delayed for a while as they game on the newest console in our home. One would hope.

Christmas was otherwise very pleasant. My oldest woke up with a fever, so we stayed home and did our own thing for the entire day. It was really nice. I made a hot breakfast of beans, bacon, toast, while my wife made the pancakes. It was really nice. I finished off the day with a Rye & Coke while watching the new Nate Bargatze special on Netflix. Hell, we even saw two NFL games on tv yesterday, so that was awesome. My wife got dug in on her new 1,000 piece puzzle. So I know she was having fun. I cleaned up wrapping paper, and the recycling so I was pretty happy about that.

The new puppy hot more gifts than my wife & I combined, so he’s a spoiled little brat. Chewed the legs off of his new squeaky chicken almost immediately. He was a little perplexed by the wrapping paper, and cheers of joy from the kids, but he didn’t attack any gifts, or mangle any toys (yet). Still early days.

I hope that you and yours are all well taken care of. Ciao Bella!

Making a hot breakfast, and opening gifts from Santa Claus, plus our stockings while we wait for the grandparents to arrive to finish the rest of the gifts. I came from a free for all present opening family, while my wife came from a watch everybody open each gift one by one in turn. It’s a nightmare of boredom, and frustration. I personally hate it. Makes it feel more performative for the gift sender than the gift opener. No-no you can’t enjoy it unless I watch you, is a weird power struggle vibe. Not a fan. But onwards and upwards!

Had a fair old snowfall last night. I had even gotten out to shovel earlier yesterday to try and mitigate the amount I would have to deal with today. But with the temperature rising, and the amount of snow which fell, I felt it was a smart choice to enlist the help of both of my children. I did however manage to clear the front walk, and 80% of the driveway myself before I gave in and asked for help. Which they freely gave, so that is appreciated. If we have too much more I’m not going to have much room to put it anywhere!

If we could cap the snowfall at two or three inches per event then I would likely never need any help, but seeing as we got six to eight inches pretty consistently across the property I was going to require assistance. If it were still the soft powder from last night, no problems, just puff heavily and that stuff will go away. But the temperature rose significantly, and the bottom portion was a warm sticky mess. Adding several pounds to each shovel full. Makes pushing the snow around a real chore too. Not to mention you either have to move heavy shovel fulls, or twice as many half full shovel loads. Not cool.

I was sweating like a pig by the time I was done, and downed a pint of water immediately upon coming inside.  From what I can see of the forecast ahead we will get a little bit more snow, and then rain, rain, rain. The temperature will go up above zero, and the rain is to stick around for two, twonand a half days possibly. Yuck. I hate rain in winter. Ice dams flood things terribly when we have these conditions. I could do without.

I forgot to inspect their work before heading inside, so now I see a patch at the very bottom of the driveway that they gave up on, which I’ll need to sort out. But otherwise they were very helpful. It went much quicker with all three of us throwing snow, instead of it just being me. My back, shoulders, and arms all thank them profusely!

It is a pretty quiet Christmas Eve, so I don’t think we’ve got much going on today. Happy holidays.

Good news, the dogs play well together off leash. They ran for the full hour, and should now collapse in a heap and sleep for a good portion of the day. That’s my good deed done for the day. Ha! Happy monday.

Had a blast at the family Christmas party. Not going to lie, I got into my cups just a touch for the first time in about eighteen months and made my wife drive us all home. The beverages went down so smooth. I indulged a bit more than I usually would. I had three, which for me is a lot. I know I used to work for several breweries, and had tonnes of fun doing so, but I’m not much of a drinker. Except on occasion when I can partake, and not suffer for it. Luckily I ate like a king, and stretched those drinks over four hours and this morning, I am none the worse for wear. Beauty! I’m more sore from the rock climbing, and the tug of wR session from the night before. It was the tug of war that pulled my big toenail off from my toe whilst battling at the Taekwondo dojo. Fun time otherwise.

The kids had a lot of fun doing crafts, running around with one another, and watching Christmas cartoons. I’m sure they dipped into the candies a fair bit too while the adults attentions were turned towards conversation. It was really nice to see just about everyone. There were a few notable absences, but schedules cam be so hard to coordinate, especially when folks tend to move around the province so much.

Today is going to be pretty chill, while we prep for tomorrow’s play dates, and farm walk with the dog(s). I hope all those invited still manage to come along. I hope the dogs play well together, but also tire each other out some too. The kids won’t be much of a problem, as they are all good kids… mostly. Ha.

Happy sunday to you all. Ciao Bella.

It’s a sad day when the things that used to spark an inordinate amount of joy in you seem to fizzle away, and now leave you feeling nothing. Not like a complete nothing, but just a passing “meh”. Like, now I know that I am well outside of the demographic for the things I really used to enjoy. I find spectacle to be empty. I want character development, not sky lasers, and roiling cloud monsters. I nolonger want to see every single character known to be thrown together, I want a tight ensemble of no more than five doing, saying, being something meaningful. Not just the loud mouth key guy who is there to open a door and then die. That feels lazy to me. It also sparks no joy.

What I’m saying is, is that I’ve grown less fascinated by movies as of late. I’m more interested in how they were made, and created than I am about what’s on screen most of the time now. I was always a BTS on the expanded Bluray type of guy. Show me how the sausage was made, because now I find the dynamics behind the scenes more relatable than whatever is going on in picture. Guess I’m just starting to show my age. I do not believe it to be a sign of depression, because, and here’s why. I am still able to feel joy and excitement. They are just induced by different things now. I can still enjoy a great twist of events in a book. I still enjoy Diablo four. I still enjoy wood working and doing minor handy man tasks about the house. I still love the holiday season and visiting friends. I am sure that I just don’t see the appeal to CGI leaden movies that are heavy on phony looking effects, and thin on plot & story. The characters are all terribly thin. Not just nutritionally, but academically as well. Dialogue is horrendous lately. Exposition a bore. Don’t get me started on the sound design, and mumble core acting delivery we are getting. Can the grimdark universe’s please enunciate and move their clenched jaws when they speak. Can we get some volume on the spoken words, and less red lining on the explosions please!?! Maddening.

But I digress. Happy first official day of winter. The cold certainly settled into Who-ville these last few days. A bit nippy out there if you forget your hat, gloves, boots or a decent jacket. Stay safe! Happy holidays to you all. Ciao Bella.

My youngest has been in the process of shedding her two front top teeth for a few months now, and the loosest one was a real snaggle tooth looking mother father. It was being pushed upwards, and outwards at the same time, while the adult tooth poked through in behind. But after all the swinging, dangling, turning, and pushing it was still held in place by two points on a very healthy gumline. It was interfering with how she eats, and was making her feel uncomfortable when she smiled, so I said “That’s it! This tooth has got to go”. And she fled from her bedroom out into the hall in a panic, where her mother caught her and pulled out the tooth. And it bled. Oh boy did it bleed. Wow. That’s ah, that there is a whole lot of blood. But, it’s out now, the tooth fairy came, and already she was eating this morning with a lot less pain. She didn’t have to try to eat around it. As sad as it was that it hurt to come out that last little bit, she is all the better for it.

So now the other front tooth that was wiggly has room to manoeuvre, and will hopefully come out even quicker, and with less fuss. I don’t think both will be out by Christmas day, or even by the start of the new year, but we’re 50% done as of today. Nice!

By the time she woke up this morning all the bleeding and pain was gone. We went through a number of paper towels, toilet paper sheets, and a few loogies in the sink to get to that point. My eldest hates the sight of blood and was getting queasy at the presence of it all. For a kid whom does full contact combat sports she’ll need to work on that. But, no matter. Tooth was extracted, crisis averted. Yeah! For Christmas miracles.

The kids had their winter pageant at school yesterday afternoon, and both kids were in it. The older one did two different band segments (one on the saxophone, the other on percussion) and then three songs with the Newsies cast. While my youngest did a class poem about what snowmen do at night. It was a fun time. Glad I went.

So now it is the Friday before the start of winter break and Christmas is right around the corner. I’m excited to see if the kids actually like the gifts we got them this year. I scaled back on small junk filler gifts, and went for fewer, but higher quality items. Not to mention my wife bought multiple sets of Ĺeafs tickets that we will start to use in early January. That’s for my oldest daughter and myself. That covers her birthday, and Christmas, as well as my Christmas and up coming birthday too. All told we are supposed to go 4 more times in total against an assortment of teams. No repeats! I’m pumped. Though we are high up, the view is unobstructed, and I’ve got ample leg room! Score.

We have a pottery experience factored in to Christmas for my youngest daughter because she wanted to try throwing a bowl, or cup, or vase of her own. Sounds like fun. Plus our go to theme for this year was less stuff/things, and more going out to have experiences to make memories. I’m all for it! Sign us all up.

In other news I have no idea what else to do with this damnable Elf from the Shelf. I have it stuck in the blinds right now. It was in the cutlery drawer yesterday (my wife’s idea) along with a poem about spoons. I am still none to keen on the Elf, but as the interest in it among my kids wears off, we could probably park it, and forget about it for days on end next year. I’d rather we spent more time reading Christmas themed books, or watching holiday movies to get into the spirit of the season, than pranking the kids with a surveillance Elf. But that’s just me.

I’ll be thinking of you all while I rinse the blood out of the bathroom sink, and mop it up off the floor. Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

It has been a few years since the Jericho blew through the farm leaving a bunch of detritus in its wake. And now that uncle Fred has been dead for the better part of a year the salvage job has finally started to clean up the grounds a bit. The busted trees were taken care of the fall immediately after the wind storm, but it has taken some doing to sort out jurisdictions, insurance, and under whose purview this salvage job is to be. My father in law got all the ducks in a row and now they’ve begun to remove the old busted grain silos, tin roof, and mangled equipment that was left to moulder in the bushes. Plus some old vehicles are being extracted from the tree lines, and inner fields by the work shop. I’m sure you could keep a flat bed truck, and several bins busy for 7-10 days clearing out all of those old cars, trucks, vans, tractors, and farm equipment that has been left on the farm to die. I imagine the use of a chainsaw is required to get much of the oldest items to pull free of their parking spots, especially if in the tree lines between fields. Freddy wasn’t too keen on taking stuff to the scrap yard. He used stuff til it was dead then dragged it to the trees and forgot about it.

If it were me I’d want to start in one area and clean it up entirely, but I don’t know what sort of items the salvage guys are looking for, or are interested in. I’m sure they grab things they can turn a profit on first, then collect the waste items afterwards. I haven’t seen any of it in action, I just notice the tracks, and bins later on, and try to guess/recall what was taken away. A fair few trees and limbs have come down, that much I can tell you for certain.

Funny to see just how deep a truck will settle into the earth when left alone for a decade or more. Some of those tire holes are a full foot deep if not more. We are going to need to get a burn pit permit to dispose of all the rotting wood that a bunch of this old farm junk was sat on. Old pallets, fencing, planks and such. That would be real handy to have a burn pit. I could then take my wood shop cut offs there instead of waiting for a cottage run every few months.

The farm grounds will change a whole lot if they are able to clear out most, if not all of the junk. Why you could even rebuild some smaller outbuildings on the reclaimed foundations of buildings long left to ruin, and overgrowth. Like a whole new farm down there these days.

It’s Thursday, so I’m still on the clock for some paid work. I best get moving!