Category: Uncategorized

Means today is going to be a long one folks. We start off the day with some dog walking, and then the three of us will go climb for 90 minutes deep in Markham, then the youngest is off to a swimming birthday party at the community centre pool, and my eldest and I will then go spend ten or so hours at the fair with different groups of friends. It’s going to be an awful lot of standing, walking, and sunshine for us today. I might even head over to the Agri tent to check on my butter carving that won me first place in the adult division, and best in show for the whole event. I’m still riding high off of my win(s). I have my ribbons and rosette proudly displayed by my computer in my studio/office space here at home. Oh what a feeling!

We did not go last night, for the first time in two decades. The kids had volleyball for two hours so we decided against rushing around to try to do too much in one evening. We have a fair few hours today to go and enjoy it, and we can go tomorrow too, unless we want to go to Wonderland for larger coasters, and Halloween themed fun.

Happy Saturday to you all, we made it through another week of work. Speaking of which, mine has started to pick up a little, which is really great. I am thankful for that. It’s good to know I have double digit hours under my belt after just four days of the month. And at some point in the next three months I will have three more reports to do too. Not going to lie, this year had some pretty major slow spots where things ground to a halt, for weeks on end, likely 11 or 12 weeks at that. Budgeting is king when it gets that quiet.

I did buy myself new boots in the end, you knew I would. Found a comfortable pair with good soles, toe caps, and for under $200.00. I replaced the insoles for something with more cushion, and now I can go back to chopping wood for fun feeling a little safer about my toes, and the axes I’m swinging about. Mornings are getting chilly, so I’m working up a sweat as I break down pile number two. I will not be able to do the whole pile because some of the wood there is just too oddly shaped for me to safely split with an axe. I have more than 10 hours into both piles now. Building up a solid mound of fire wood. Free exercise and a longer dog walk each morning seems like a win-win to me.

I will head back to Pike one to do the last portions there that I walked away from. I might have to wait on pile three until next year, because work has picked up a bit now, and I need those hours to be spent at the computer, and not in a field wielding an axe. We will see if the increased work load continues on at a steady pace. I might be able to split on just two or three mornings each week, leaving the other days for fuller office hours instead. I’ll figure it out.

The Markham Fair Second Annual Butter Carving Competition Sponsored by Gay Lea was held Thursday evening at 7:00 pm, in the Agricultural tent near the Livestock Arena.

Both my eldest daughter and I entered this year. She entered the very first year it was held, which was 2024, and had had a great time. So this year I came prepared with a handful of tools of my own that I favour when working in clay at home.

To our surprise we both placed within our respective divisions. My daughter achieved a second place finish in the children’s category, behind last year’s winner, and the oldest in the bunch.

I achieved a first place finish in the adult category, and also took home the best in show rosette, the first I have ever won, and I will proudly display it in my office studio space for all to see should they like to. We were both pleased as punch with our results. My piece was a fair diorama consisting of two hay bales with a jack-o’-lantern pitched on top, with leaves and a stem on top. Several skulls littered around the pumpkin, a set of vines with flowers/leaves, a Markham Fair billboard sign, a 181 years tombstone, and a field mouse poking out from behind the pumpkin & tombstone. I had some grasses, and faux flowers scattered about too. Butter is a tough medium to work in, so I have to give credit to all of the other sculptors whom entered, and brought their A games to the tables.

Part of my winnings was a gift bag that contained a hat, gloves, socks, two hockey pucks, two pens, a deck of playing cards, a tape measure, gift certificates for dairy products (fancy cheeses from closer inspection) and a lovely plaid fleece heavy pile throw blanket all in a carrier bag.

The children’s category was for twenty minutes (20 mins), the teen category had thirty minutes (30 mins), and the adults allowed forty five minutes (45 mins) to create something that was themed as either: Farm, Fair or animal. My daughter produced a lovely pumpkin in her allotted time.

All three first place finishers, and I think also the second, and third place finishers will have their butter carvings on display in the agri tent for the remainder of the fair, so until Sunday October 5th, 2025 if you’d care to head over and see them in person.

To all those whom asked me to enter the Royal Winter Fair butter carving contest I say… You know I just might have to think about it! Ha-ha.

Other than they do not owe me anything, it’s been a great run, and now I have to release you in to your eternal rest period. I am sad to see them go after they have been a part of more than 50% of my life. Through thick and thin they covered my feet, and kept my ankles sturdy as well. I will reclaim the laces, and send them off to their final resting place soon enough. It saddens me to see them go. They merely hold sentimental value, and are not a high enough quality items to send to a cobbler to breathe new life into. For that I shall mourn. Boo-hoo.

So today instead of chopping wood I will try on various pairs of new boots, mid tier or lower, in an attempt to replace those I have just lost to an exploding sole, shed stitching, weakened adhesive bonding, and old age. My WorkPro’s have come to the end of the road. I need steel toed boots so I don’t lop off a toe when swinging my axes around like a fool on the farm, and elsewhere. I don’t require top of the line boots because I only need to wear the new ones for 60-90 minutes 3-5 days a week (when paid work is slow, and it’s not winter, raining, storming out, or too hot!). That’s a long list of conditions I won’t work outdoors in, so these new boots don’t have to be the envy of every working joe who sees me in them, right?. Exactly. Comfortable and safe, offers protection, but no other bells and whistles. Sounds about right.

It’s Thursday today, so that means opening night of the fair, volunteer ride night, and our butter carving competition. I look forward to all of it. The radar says we are in for several more great sunny days, so that should be a boon for the Markham Fair 2025. See you all there! There’s something for everyone.

As soon as I fixed one part of my work boots my suspicion was that another part, or parts were near failure as well. So now I am facing a cascade of failing sole sections on both boots. Where I fixed the heel on one, now the toe has come loose. Flapping in the wind loose at that. I don’t have a way to see the front toe back to the boot along with the Barge contact cement I’m using, so this all might crumble after one more wearing.

Not to mention the front toe portion of the sole on the second boot has come apart, but not fallen off yet. I am hoping that a liberal coating of Barge and some clamps will let that set up and continue on for the rest of this season at least. I’m not a day labourer, so I’m only using these boots for 75-90 minutes 3 to 5 days out of any given week. I don’t think it’s worth me buying new work boots just to split wood. My next purchase would be toe caps to go on my wellington boots, and I’ll chop in those. At least my feet will be warm and dry as the seasons change. I’d prefer my twenty five year old boots stay with me, putting in a good few more years of service, but what can I do. I’m not a cobbler, and these boots aren’t classy enough to take to a professional.

I fear if this does not hold them the next stop for these lovely boots will be a land fill. I will hold on to the laces because they are still good quality items, and can be used elsewhere. I will be sad to see them go, should the soles pop off for good.

I could only complete 75 minutes of splitting today because that was when I noticed my right boot soles had almost peeled off entirely from the top tips down to where I had just fixed the heel joint. Although last time when the one heel went away I kept on chopping for about 40 minutes, but I was tired, and sore already, so I decided going home to attempt yet another repair was the way to go.

I am really starting to see some significant movement through wood pile Two, so I’m a little bummed I may have to stop and wait for this contact cement to cure over the next 24 hours. And failing this repair, waiting on toe caps to arrive in the mail. I looked at some boots on line but they’ve all gone up to nearly $300.00 and then some. Seems a little rich for my blood since I’m only chopping to get exercise, and stay fit.

We went climbing last night so both elbows were singing today. And my grip was a tad weak due to heavy use yesterday. No matter. The Markham Fair opens tomorrow, so I’ll get my steps in wandering around the grounds for the better part of four days. Not much for shoulders, back, and my core but I’ll still be fairly active! Ha.

I don’t know why I’m so attached to these damn boots, except that I’ve had them since 1999, and I’ve worn them at every factory job, land scaping job, tree service job that I’ve ever had. Put a whole lot of miles under my heels walking the boulevards of Brampton with BP Landscaping cutting grass, weed eating, and picking up garbage ten hours a day, multiple years in a row. Not that I am nostalgic for how hot, and hard that work was, but it’s core memories I have where these boots were present, and accounted for.

Single digit temperatures this morning, no surprise there as we’ve just entered the month of October. I do not hold much hope for a random uptick in November where it stays warm & sunny, when it should be grey, cold, dreary, and sort of sad looking outside. May very well be a long hard winter this year. But, weather’s gotten all fucky so who knows what will come out way, predictions are harder than ever it seems.

A toast! To hard work accomplished, and trusty boots that made all of that work possible. Salut!

Now here’s an untapped market that somebody could make an inordinate amount of money off of. A way to actually clean sports equipment without ruining it, and taking away completely the stench of old sweat, and bacteria. I have so far tried Lysol wipes, lemon scented and non scented, Microban 3000 (the stuff for stank ass shoes) and Febreeze of any sort of scent, and the anti bacterial version. Nothing much seems to work. I once, many  years ago attempted to run it through the wash but that ruined all of the Velcro, and the stiffness of the protective padding. I have heard of other soaking them in a mild bleach solution, and hanging them to dry over a period of days, but that’s only good in the summer (if it works at all).

I’m at a loss because as the groups of kids get older the gear smells worse and worse. These combat weeks make the studio stink so bad you can smell all that sweat soaked gear from eight feet out the door. Yikes. It’s an unholy, cloying, cling to your nostrils stink. It’s alive. A biological weapon of youth sports proportions!

Right now 8 have my daughter’s gear drying on the back deck after drenching it in anti bacterial Febreeze. Not that I noticed any lessening of the odor after she used it yesterday. Airing them out on the back deck only works briefly either. I bought an odor eater pod to go in the back but that had a reach of about one centimeter, so not great. I layered Bounce dryer sheets on the bottom of the bag to attempt to draw away some smelliness, but that failed to work too.

In more of the same old news I completed 90 minutes of wood splitting today. I am starting to see some gaps in the wood pile, so that’s encouraging. I had to bust out the metal splitting wedge a few times today because a couple of logs were very fibrous and knotty. Must have been pine with how many nubbed off limbs each log has sprouting from it. I nearly embedded the wedge entirely into the log with nary a split in sight, until with my last whack it gave way, and popped open. I was starting to get worried I had just lost my wedge on the third log I’d ever used it on.

Luckily my kids never played hockey, or football so we haven’t had much by way of smelly equipment to deal with over the years. But now that we are getting much closer to black belt territory, and my daughter is getting older, the stinky equipment phenomenon has appeared! Even the hockey skates, and soccer cleats/shin pad combo never smelled this bad. It’s a new age for us I suppose. Preteen kids and their odorous sports gear. Welcome to parenthood, where everything is sticky, it all costs money, and those smells linger and cling to everything. Enjoy!

The Markham Fair 2025 starts this week so I thought I would get my wood chopping in now, instead of trying to do it on Thursday, Friday when we will be very active at the fair grounds. I was initially worried that chopping would tire out my hands, hindering my climbing sessions, but the true culprit is the elbow/bicep combo, so provided I only cut for 75-90 minutes at a time, I can get out without any real damage or lasting pain to either body part. I get some additional exercise, a massive chore slowly gets completed over several weeks time, and the dog gets extended walk time to chase rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and turkeys at his leisure. It’s a win all around.

I did add an eight pound maul to my collection of wood splitting tools, and a matching Fiskars splitting wedge. Both of which work a real treat. Still not going to get through the toughest bits I have encountered, but it offers me options, along with my little sledge hammer I can get out of most jams without too much fuss. The eight pounder really makes me appreciate swinging the six. Makes you feel like you could swing the smaller one for days after a few rounds with the heavier maul. Two pounds doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up after a series of swings that come up over your head at full extension to slam down to knee level on the chopping block. My shoulders are getting the workout of a lifetime these days. Sweating like a pig over here.

The full sun exposure doesn’t help much either, and it’s only 23°C today, but whacking those rounds, over, and over, and over again works up a nasty splash of perspiration. Pours into my eyes, soaks through my hate, soaks into my belt, and leaves my socks drenched. I’m a certified fatty, I sweat so much now. I never used to perspire this badly before. Back sweat, chest sweat, under arms, legs, neck, head, you name it there is a layer of glistening stank on me! It’s kinda nasty.

Gotta give a shout out to my goat skin gloves because my hands are (so far) doing really well after wielding an axe for more than eight hours over the last two weeks with no signs of wear & tear on them. I can feel the pressure points on my thumbs and palms wanting to develope into blisters, but it just hasn’t happened yet. And for that, I am thankful. Climbing isn’t building up any causes yet, because I’m not there enough to do so. But I can feel some of the touch coming back to my fingers, and I’m relearning how to approach new beta’s. That’s a route up the climbing wall. I’m back to sticking with 5.8, and 5.9’s once again. Soon I might be able to try the 5.10’s again. I had high hopes that my summer spent with the grippers would help me with my climbing. I guess my strength didn’t diminish, but my skills faded without use. My forearms and hands are my weak spot with climbing. That, and not being able to raise my legs laterally far enough to make some wider steps possible. Working on it!

Back to Monday! Friday felt like a whole extra Saturday with the PA Day, and the no school, plus evening spent at the Halloween Haunt. Sunday we went back, but for the camp spooky stuff, and had just as much fun. Caught the sun a little too while we were at it, but it was fun enough.

Taking in the kidsville zone with the youngest today. Hitting up a few of the smaller amusement rides together, just the two of us. My spouse promised to ride Leviathan, and Yukon Striker with our eldest, so off they’ve gone to go do that. It’s a warm day in late September, so we’re enjoying the outdoors, and sunshine while it lasts.

It’s a tad warm for the kids in their Halloween costumes but we have so few occasions to wear them, I thought they’d get a kick out of wearing them for part of the day. We won’t be here long, since we were here late Friday night because of the PA Day. I’ve come eleven times so far this year and the Haunt only began on Friday. We will see if we can get even more use out of the passes yet! Plus Winterfest, I might make it to fifteen times!

I do need to get home to cut the grass and start working on the leaves though, so we won’t be here for too long today. It opened later so we drove the long way here.

It was opening night for the months long Halloween celebration, and the crowds showed up for it all right. Luckily we got onto a couple of older rides around the back first before the main crowds surged inside the park once the sun had set. We left after three and a half hours because we’ll be right back there in Sunday for Camp Spooky festivities for my youngest. She’s not big on scares, or loud spooky music, so that should be a more relaxed atmosphere for her to enjoy. She did invest in a No Boo! Necklace to ward off the cast members dressed to frighten, so it wasn’t all bad.

It’s now Saturday so that means climbing at the Hub with both kids for a couple of hours. I best go stretch out my hands, and firearms so that they don’t immediately cramp up once I get on the wall! Have a lovely weekend out there in TV Land. I’m watching you.

Pile number two is proving to be a real challenge, but luckily I found more rounds that would split, rather than not. It’s a real unpleasant bang when the maul bounces off the top of a log when you find one that doesn’t want to come apart because it’s not ready yet. That will make the old elbow joint sing for sure. DOING! Right off the top. It starts at the wrists, and ends in the elbows and shoulders. Not my favourite part.

But, when you get on a streak of logs that simply fly apart with a stern look it makes it so easy to just keep motoring on for the full 90-120 minutes. Today I’ve got the kids at home for the PA Day, so I had to cut it short because my kids were both over heating, and bored of picking raspberries while I focused on not permanently injuring myself with an axe. After the three plus inches of rain we had over the last two days it was really hot and sunny early today.

Pile two is in the full sun, no large walnut trees to block out the sunshine. Which means that once I got going I really started to sweat profusely. Oh! And so far my boot repair seems to be holding up. I didn’t notice any new issues so that makes me happy. Now 8 know that should the other boot sole come free I have the materials, and the learned experience to fix it competently. That’s a win in my book. Also no nails used as a last resort so that was a bonus too.

I got three big projects off & away, so as far as paid work is concerned we are all caught up, ready for Monday to begin anew. I have it on good authority that I have three more reports coming before the end of the year, which is great news. Would I like it to be six to ten of them? Yeah-sure. I like getting paid. But only if all my other clients pull back and do very little work of their own. I like a good mix of paid work. Keeps things interesting you know? Trying to do double digit reports as well as multiple piece advertising projects is really stressful. A true test of my time management skills. Prioritize and push through! Then crash in a heap come Winter Break! Ha. This is the way.

From the looks of it I can continue to split wood a few days a week for the next several weeks. Probably right up until the rains settle in for November. Because at that point it’ll turn to freezing rain or flurries, and out right snow accumulation. I’m not splitting in the snow by axe. I’d like to think that by then the hydraulic splitter will have surfaced and I can rock through all the too tough to split rounds, and scream & curse maniacally at them as they creak, crack, and twist under the rams pressure. Fuck you twisty wood knots!

So it’s Friday, and another week deeper into the school year. Most of the kids programming has started up, and we are neck deep & upside down in extracurriculars for both girls. Madness I say, complete and utter lunacy. Love it. Gotta fill up that belt display somehow!!!

What a rain it is. Likely to get several inches of rain this week alone. Going to refill the water table at this rate unless it all runs off because the soil was so hard packed, and unable to soak in the moisture. We lucked out with a much nicer Tuesday mid day, and Wednesday, so it’s hard to complain. I know my father in law had hoped of harvesting the soya beans this week, but it would have suited them better to try last week while it was hot, and dry as a bone. Perks of being a farmer is hindsight of twenty twenty.

So I’m all dressed up with no wood to safely split. I took the time to run a prescription over to the pharmacy, so I will grab that tomorrow. I have a stockpile for overlapping days because sometimes it’s good to have 7-10 days of medicine in your back pocket for unexpected delays or mishaps. I never want to run out and hope they have more on hand to refill my needs. That’s a risk not worth taking.

Sure has been humid the last four days. My dehumidifier has needed to be emptied at least twice per day. If I wake up and it’s full, it probably could go three times a day. I need a rain barrel to store it for the dryer weeks of the summer for watering the flowers, and keeping the pumpkins going. Bad year for pumpkins, at least for me. I got one viable orange pumpkin, and two early growth blobs, and one which got a reasonable size on the vine, then withered into a smelly puddle. In previous years I’ve had 8-10 with no major issues beyond the vines strangling out everything else around them. The vines were big, and strong, with lots of flowers, but hardly any fruit! So weird.

Works been busy this week for the first time in quite a while. Happy to have the work! Worked hours means invoices going out, and money coming in!

Not much to do but wait on feedback, and sit to listen to the rain. Making me sleepy.

**Edit: just been informed that we’ve had more than three inches of rain over the last thirty six hours, with still more yet to come. The kids Terry Fox run has been rescheduled for next week, so don’t pack up the running shoes and calorie gel packs just yet.