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Spent the morning at the Zoo, enjoying the zoo mobile ride, greenhouse, and animal care facilities. Three spots I had previously never visited before. Had a fun time even in the drizzle.

Also the US  folks are still running my numbers up and I appreciate that a lot. It’s kinda fun to see. I do not expect anything from it, so it’s a fun surprise when I check in and see something besides a zero on the daily view counter. My usual 1 to 3 count is normally enough to keep me happy, so seeing nearly 50 one day gave me the flutters. Ha.

I’m going to sit down for lunch momentarily so I thought I’d check in before I did so. Was planting at the farm yesterday, and landscaping at the inlaws, do my back and hands are a tad sore.

I have work lined up for Monday which is fantastic, really glad to have that on the books. Invoices out means money coming in. Keep the ball rolling a little longer, and a wee bit further down the road. Happy to have it.

Hope your lazy Sunday is everything you hoped for, and more. Ciao Bella.

Weekly view count numbers are up, way up all thanks to the mysterious US enclave of folks looking at something(?) From the archives, but I don’t know what. Maybe I’ll get a few more pennies of ad revenue, always good for a laughter to see the 0.01 for a busy month. Ad blockers, they really do work! Not in my favour mind you, but eventually it’ll hit a threshold and I’ll get a notification for a single dollar. Or they’ll up the minimum and I’ll be chasing that passively for another decade. I’d love to know if it was for the short stories, but my miniature war gaming builds are pretty popular as far as my stuff is concerned.

I do in a year what others get in a slow morning, so not exactly a high traffic zone. I do get notifications when views exceed 43 in a day, as that was my previous high traffic milestone for a single day. Yeah – I know, I’m famous. Ha! It could be the resin kit stuff, the painting of my sculpted #supersculpey busts, or my VF-1 build up & air brushing article. Whatever it is, I don’t know which thing is drawing their attention. Perhaps one day I’ll find a widget on the back end that will tell me what drew all that attention in the first place.

I once had a mash up image of James Marsden and Vladimir Putin do numbers because it got picked up by a college humor listicle. That was pretty awesome. My mr Bean-Un mash up was popular for a while. And a few things I wrote about Harginger Down (a Matt Winston /ADI) practical effects kickstarter movie did well, and get views every so often.

Saturday is here, the weather is nice enough for now, and we’ve got some landscaping planned to do at the in-laws for the morning. Mostly shaping shrubs, bushes & ornamental trees with a side of  pulling thistles and other such prickly weeds. Watch out for those chemical burns. Not fun. Not fun at all.

I think I’m done here as far as tree pruning.  All of our decorative shrubs died off ages ago, so I don’t do much shaping with a hedge trimmer here. The back hedge gets touched up every so often. Top one year, outer face the other, back and forth year after year. Handy to have a corded unit that is so light weight. It gets tiring to wave that thing around over your head trying to straighten up a nine foot tall hedge. I will say this, after trimming the top 4-6 ft off, the ice storms didn’t make the hedge bend over or lean this winter, so as stark a difference as that trimming made, it worked as intended.

I checked the apple trees for any sign of fruit for this year and bubkis, so I did a very thorough pruning job yesterday. The cherries are out, and I just trimmed the really low lying stuff that chest height. I’m not opposed to leaning down to mow under a branch, but I don’t want to hunch or crawl under anything. So the limbs that make me have to do that got the axe yesterday. Satisfying to finally make the change.

Anyway, have a great Saturday. Ciao Bella!

Now I have today, Saturday and Sunday to hopefully rectify the issue, but I do have a plan moving forward to rectify things. It will involve me needing to go to all of my subscriptions and swap over my details in all of my various accounts, but I can handle that. I am more concerned about my paid work contacts still being able to find me, so that I can, you know… work.

I’ll have to wait and see what becomes of things because it is entirely out of my hands now. Luckily I have temporary access to grab my contacts list. Which is what I was concerned most about losing. Sucks if all my archived materials get taken away, but I can survive the glitch at bare minimum. Cool. Adapt, and keep moving forward, even if it slows to an incremental crawl.

So that was my late Thursday night & Friday, how has yours been? The school fundraising bbq was yesterday evening. It was lots of fun. The whole school did a line dance number together out near the parking lot. It was really nice to see my kids enjoying themselves, and showing off their new collective moves. I don’t know how much money was raised, but it was a pretty solid looking crowd of Stinger families. The PTA should be proud.

My hands and arms ache from all of the tree work I’ve done the last two days. Not that is has been transformative, or anything like that, but I cleaned up a fair ole chunk of the yard. I do need to sort out the street facing portion of my apple trees and cherry tree. I’m not a fan of getting stuck in the face by low lying tree branches. But, being fruit trees, and I want to be able to harvest them, I also don’t want pencil thin, 30ft tall trees like I may usually want from pines, for trees, or maples. I just want to cut the grass with as few obstacles as I have to have. That’s where I am coming from. And that is my goal.

Anyway, it’s early and I might go out with my loppers and shears and give it an honest go for a day three of hand busting physical labour. I’m a martyr, that’s what I am. A saint. A golden boy of heavenly delights. Ha – yeah right.

Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

I took down several sapling trees yesterday, and two very large portions of another shrub/bush/tree thing. I cut it down with a hand saw, and chopped it into bite sized chunks and took it all to the farm. Today I pruned the low lying branches off of our Lilacs, and tidied up the Cherry tree and Apple trees too. I should have a far easier time cutting the grass the next go around. Also I hope to curtail the presence of any skunks or raccoons by eliminating low lying cover. If we are to adopt a puppy in the coming weeks or months I don’t want skunks anywhere nearby if I can help it.

Plus after all that cutting and chopping my forearms and hands are a little numb from the work. The vibration from the reciprocating saw didn’t help my wrist or elbow any either. While it’s lovely to take a moment to be outdoors and work while I wait in approvals for paid work, I don’t need to injure abuse myself in the process. Gotta work smart, not hard.

So here we are on Thursday. Kids have their big school bbq, and my wife will be out at her school’s prom supervising the event, and being with work friends. I hope the weather remains nice so that we don’t get too hot, nor chilly if the sun sets on us while we’re all outdoors. The kids have a big dance number planned, so that could be fun.

Speaking of dance numbers, the recitals are next weekend, and I think my girls are in four of the six shows. Not always together, but same days, different times kind of a thing. It’ll be a long, and arduous weekend for all involved. The costumes are nicely done. I hope they last longer than the previous year. I don’t expect that the costumes will hold up over time. But, once it’s all said and done we can tackle the girls hair, and get them cut & styled for a change as he dive into summer. Hard to believe that June is almost here! Can’t wait!

Lots to do on top of paid work. Laundry, dishes, mow the lawns, weed eat, pull weeds, and gather what’s needed for tonights extracurriculars,  as well as tomorrow’s big events. Wife has her school’s prom, we have a grade school bbq / book fair / dance thingy. So much left to do. Gotta jet.

Went for a small grocery shop, and came out with $174.00 worth of stuff. No detergents, toys, clothes or bluray either. Just food. I yhough for sure that was going to be a $125’er or less trip. Goodness me. Looks like we need to eat every last bite of what we’ve got on hand if that’s the new price for a small weekly shop. Now I did by a Mayo bottle, which I wasn’t expecting to, for four dollars, and I got more apple sauce pouches which was an additional ten bucks. But I am amazed it was so high. The grapes were expensive, but were the bananas and grapefruit pricey too? The sandwich meats were not cheap, those start around seven or eight bucks each. Milk for the kids was also nearly seven bucks a pop. Might need to raise a goat for milk soon! Ha. I bought eggs which I hadn’t done for some time. I guess it all adds up incrementally. Will have to go off brand sooner or later. Though lousy food makes for lousy living.

Perhaps a part time job will soon be in order? I’ve been here before. Tighten the belts, and make do with what you’ve currently got. All covetous plans for “things & stuff” get shelved until after the cash flow is re-established. It’s not a whole lot of fun, but that’s why I saved as much as I could while times were good. This too shall pass.

Hello Tuesday! And how are you all today? I got to say hello to three very friendly puppets today. If I’d have tried harder I could have met a fourth, a dog whom likes to sing us the song of his people. It’s an ear splitting whine, but he does it was gusto. Can’t blame him, I sing karaoke the exact same way. What we lack in talent we make up for in decibels. Make it everyone else’s problem. Hardy har-har.

Oddly enough I’m looking at the slate of movies out now, by all accounts it is great stuff, and I’m not interested in the least. Fall guy, Mad Max, Atlas, Garfield it doesn’t much matter to me. With how poorly my body handled yesterday’s Greek food, it’s no wonder why I’d rather be at home, than out and about. That’s not a feeling I enjoy having out in public.

I think we’re in for a nicer later portion of the week, so I’ll need to mow the lawn once again. I was trying to keep on top of an every four days cycle, but then rains, winds, and thunderstorms came and put the kibosh on that. I need to get back into my brand guidelines project so I best be off about my business. To be faiìiiiiiiiirrrrrrr.

It’s grey, raining and a tad breezy. What a Monday morning it is. I saved myself some time by doing work last night before putting the kids to bed, and that allowed me to make some report edits for another client first thing this morning. America has Memorial Day holiday today, so it wouldn’t need to be finished until tomorrow. But, why put off until tomorrow that which can be done today.

I’m just glad to have work to do. I’m in the midst of a slow period right now. This too shall pass. Whether it’s being busy, or slow. Well paid or broke. At some point things will change. Tighten a belt. Adjust to the new normal. Adapt to the new situation as it arises. That’s the life of a freelancer. It’s not for the faint of heart.

I didn’t have “break into my own home” on my Sunday bingo card, but here we are. After a long 90 minutes of traveling to & from the farm, swapping tires, labeling them, washing them, and torquing the whole lot down, and then taking the winter set to be stored at the farm once more, I was pretty tired out.

So we attempted a short bike ride which did not go over very well. My oldest has a new (somewhat adult) bike which she finds intimidating. So much so that she can’t recall how to pedal, steer or remain upright on the thing. I was not having any of the fits, fights, and tantrums and so I made her ride it up our street and back home again. She was fine, but chose to go cry in her room for a spell. Slammed doors included. Oh joy.

So I took my vehicle to go and fill it up with gas, and upon my return what do I find? The batteries in the front door have gone dead, and I don’t have the manual deadbolt key anywhere handy. Yikes. Luckily I am just a C hair shy of being too fat to fit through one set of windows, and I got in, swapped out all eight door batteries. That’s both the front & back door. Can’t get in the back as I have the screen door latched against the wind storms we’ve been having. Works a little too well, if you aren’t looking to cut through the mesh. As I’m not looking to do that repair again any time soon.

Alas I got in, with a bit of ingenuity, time, and the cover of trees to help me out a little. Glad that’s over and done with now. I’d be happier if I could get both cars tires swapped, but the van needs two new tires, and I don’t have them yet. Fun times.

Add into the mix my youngest having a play date that I wasn’t made aware of, and you have a pretty full morning on your hands. I even took the time to wash both cars while I was doing the tire swap. Can’t recall the last time I put either vehicle through the car wash. Metal parts aren’t going to like that salt residue all that much. I should find my power washer and get that set up for a Saturday morning car wash as we head into June & July. Could do the house windows while I’m at it. Try to peel the faux bloody hand prints off the brick work. They’ve only been there since mid October. Ha.

It’s times like this where I’m glad I bought the 3 ton jack, jack stands, breaker bar, torque wrench, and impact wrench. Makes doing my own tires far less hard on my back. A flat level driveway wouldn’t hurt either, but I’ll take what I can get out here in the streets. I don’t need them all the time but they shure do come in handy when you do need them. Boo-yah! Oh, and the wheel chocks too. With how inclined my driveway is, you best believe they get wedged in pretty good. You really see how far a car will roll back when you are tugging on a breaker bar to beat the 140ft/lbs of torque used to set the light nuts on over a very salty/briny winter. Glad for the ugga-dugga tool too at that point. 1150 ft/lbs of torque in my wrench. Real handy that thing is. Weighs a few pounds by itself. Top shelf.

That does it for me. I might tackle some paid work later on today so it’s ready for a 9:00am Monday morning review. But we’ll see if my back feels like it once I get home and put my feet up. I have a sneaking suspicion I’m being voluntold to go plant glad bulbs at the farm when I get home. May have to slow walk it. Speaking of Glad bulbs, we have a bunch of our own to plant too. Should get those in the ground tomorrow if I remember. Ciao Bella.

I’ve said it a number of times, I hate getting up early on a saturday. It’s one reason we never encouraged hockey with our kids, as I knew we’d have a hell of a morning making those 6:00am ice times for practices. Ugh. Today I just had to get the oldest to a Markham train station for roughly 7:00am. Not my favourite time to be up but atleast traffic was minimal, and it was above 10°C, so not too cold either. Could make for a pleasant day for my daughter atleast. I hope it is both fun and informative. A memory maker for her and her troop friends. There are only seven girls from our 5th troop going. A bunch from the attached younger siblings went though, so it could potentially be a riot of fun. They are expecting around 5,000 girls and leaders if all whom signed up go down for it. All I know is, pick up could either be 5:15, or 6:15pm this afternoon. That’s nearly 12 hours on their feet. My kid is going to be in such a mood when I go collect her. Desperate for food if our ROM trip is any sign of what’s to come.

But now it’s Saturday morning, I’m wide awake, and the house is empty. Do I kick on the air brush and try a different primer combo, or do I play a video game, do I read, or do karaoke? I don’t know. The morning (at least) is my oyster so to speak.

Looks like New York tied up their series against florida. I stopped watching after they got through regulation time. Knew I’d have trouble walking up if I didn’t. Glad I set three alarms. Needed two of them truth be told. Thankfully my bladder helped heave me out of bed prior to needing the third and final safety bell. I got my little girl up, dressed, fed, packed with checklisted items, and cleaned up & presentable as a representative part of her troop. Go team!

Looks like some nasty storm clouds are coming from the north west. Looks ugly as sin. I do hope my wife tears down her tent and packs up before the storm hits. It of my hands now though. I drove over yesterday evening to set up the tent, open the vents, and attach the rain cover. Did 95% of it myself, in the wind mind you. Managed to get the girls to help anchor the rain cover while I affixed it in place with the bungee cords and staked ropes. It’s a pretty big Ozark Trails 4-6 person tent. You could park a Smart car inside it. Or a mini cooper for that matter. Usually they camp using a queen sized inflatable mattress, or two. But my wife leant them out last year to a friend who has not returned either item. A bit ignorant if you ask me. If I borrow something it’s on my mind until I return it, right after using it. Usually washed or in the same/better state than how i received it. Not so with these people. I get that they are heavy, but come on. It’s nearly been a year. Bring it back my friend.

Mayhaps I’ll watch a movie, or the first two episodes of season three of Shoresy. That’s usually good for a laugh or two. Have a great weekend. I hope the impending storm doesn’t upend your day. Ciao Bella.

And the only non-garbage hose they have on hand is nearly three times the price of what you were hoping to spend. Gah! New – expensive hose it is then. Good news though, it’s a fifty footer so I nolonger need to haul the compressor out of the garage to reach all four tires from either vehicle. That makes me happy. One small win atleast.

Had hoped to go to the driving range today. But weather and life events for others stepped in the way. No biggie. No point swinging for the fences with my nine iron or #3 driver when there’s such a heavy wind blowing. Plus I pretty much blew up my budget on the new air hose, so not paying to hit balls was also a welcome break.

At least I’ve remembered to pull our tent out of the shed to let it air out for a few hours so that it doesn’t smell of grass clippings and gasoline from the shed.  Not going to be much fun to sleep in if it smells like a landscapers garage shop. Now it’s time for the youngest one to go and do her Girl Guides sleep away camping night. Luckily this one is just for a single night, and not two days like the last one. The eldest has to be up and out the door Saturday morning to make the 7:00am train. Which isn’t ideal, as far as I’m concerned. Why do people want to do shit so gods be damned early on a Saturday. Now I’ll need to be up by six, to sort out breakfast, and drive time in order to get her to the train station in Markham. So no late night playing video games or watching movie(s) plural.

I’ll satisfy myself with just the Rangers Panthers game on tv. I pray it doesn’t go into over time, and that I can be in bed before 11:00pm. Was invited to a Refreshment Friday just over the road, but I have no babysitter on speed dial, wife is out for the night at camp with the youngest, and the inlaws are elbow deep into the farming/planting cycle. As in “not available”. So no party for me. Oh well. There will be others! If the eldest were twelve or more I’d be out like a shot, but nines just too young to be left alone at night for four plus hours.

I might still take a karaoke break to rock some tunes by myself tonight, but I’m not sold on it just yet. Anyway, have a good weekend. Ciao Bella.