Greatwall Studios Graphic Design

The uneasy truce has been breached – yet again. First by a reluctant attempt to create ice for a birthday party set in the mid day sun. The second seems to be from the new groceries that went in the freezer yesterday. Must have mad excess moisture on them, as the whole freezer has crusted over with ice & frost. Once again we will slightly warm the space to eliminate the frost/ice, without spoiling the contents of either the fridge or freezer portions. It is a delicate task. One I usually undertake when no one else is home. But now we are in the midst of the first week of summer holidays and I can’t escape them for more than an hour or so at a time. This could prove to be very difficult. I don’t wish to purchase a new fridge at this time, but having to defrost it every single week to ten days will wind up being too tedious a task for us. But for the sake of saving a thousand bucks or more I might be able to deal with it for a bit longer.

The front lines of summer holidays are strewn with the discarded bodies of toys, markers and slips of paper. Plastercine lumps cover the ground, mashed into the cracks between floor boards. Old snacks and juice boxes litter the living room. All has gone to hell. We held the washing line for as long as we could. Bashing out two loads on cheaper Sunday, but we did not fold it, nor put it away. I fear the clothes are lost in the tides. Scattered about like the silhouettes of children run amok. Pray for us.

Yesterday was a bit of a blur, but we have now surpassed the 200 day writing milestone. Came & went without fanfare or markings of any kind. Seems like something I’d do. My hips ache from all of the walking we’ve done the last two days mooching around the town events. I also carried my youngest around a fair bit too, which didn’t help my back, nor my hips much. Partly why I have been consistently lifting weights, so I could do so, without further injury to my back. Who’d have thought getting fat & lazy would lead to minor, but nagging injuries hmmm. Well, exercising just a little every day has counter acted some of those nagging back issues, and made me less tired on the daily. Which is nice. I’m happy about it. Hasn’t done me much in the way of weight loss, but that hasn’t been my goal as of yet. I wanted the back issue to soften a bit over several months first.

And now we are, what? Three days into the 63 days of summer break. Several tantrums deep at this point. Some days are hot and sticky, some rainy, and some have been windy & cool. The whole gamut of possible summer time weather in three days. Very strange days indeed.

Saw the second to last episode of Stranger Things Season Four last night, and I’m pumped for the two plus hours of the finale! From what I hear there will be one more season and then it’s all over and done with. It’s been mostly quality thus far, so I appreciate them not going on until we’re all sick to death of the show. Top quality!

As great as we have it here, there are questions to be answered regarding our collective history. So take pride, but be aware that our history is not pristine, and free from horrible acts of cruelty.

The Canada Day/Strawberry Festival is upon us. The fireworks, though late (at 9:52pm) were wonderful yet again.

It is currently just after 8:00am on Friday July 1st, and The Summer Break 2022 is officially underway. Sounds as though the kids woke up on or around six something this morning even though there is nothing much going on until 11:00am. These kids have got to learn to sleep in, as they are exhausting when they get up early and then make demands they know cannot be met at that time. Unreasonable, logicless children. Primal savagery contained in minuscule bodies full of too much energy and not enough introspective self awareness. Trouble in waiting these kids are. When do they start to sleep in? When does that phenomenon begin to take hold? I desperately need to know, so that I can set a countdown clock for it in the back of my mind.

Not going to lie, the weather looks sketchy at best outside these windows. Could downpour on us as we attend the town’s events. Drizzle is one thing, but a full on deluge from the heavens is another issue entirely. Drizzle will limit the crowds and we can still have a good time, a downpour will cause everything to screech to a halt, and will kill the vibe. Plus it’ll set the kids to whining and crying in disappointment. We’ve tried not to shield them from disappointment so that they could learn to deal with it, and build up resilience to things not going as planned, but both being under eight years of age, means tears and moaning endlessly regardless. The Joys of parenthood. We’ll make the most of whatever we can get.

Nine weeks with the children at home. Well technically eight, as the kids both go to dance camp for one week this summer when my wife goes back to work, and they weren’t scheduled to be back in school yet. So we have eight weeks to try to stay sane and keep them occupied enough not to kill one another. A razor’s edge of keeping them busy without falling over into over tired territory which is just as bad as bored and irritable. I get it now, why our parents smacked the shit out of us in our youth. Not that we condone it, but I get it. I hated it, but I get it in a very visceral way. How much simpler it would be to solve every irritation with a slap upside the head, or a slipper to the behind. But all that does is breed resentment and more outbursts. Though calm talking and time outs only worked well when they were very little. The hankerin’ for a spankerin’ as The Simpson’s said, is growing some days. May cooler heads continue to prevail.

I have started to think alot about a live edge waterfall coffee table build for the fall. Can I just say, what a relief it is to have the screen door build finished. We’ve had many cool breezy days where it has seen use, and I am in love. It’s what I always envisioned for the house. And I’m still very interested in a slab table build project. It will depend greatly on price, as wood is kind of expensive still. I know plywood is not anywhere near as cheap as it used to be. So I can only imagine what the price of hard woods is doing these days. Maybe instead of Walnut, we use Cherry or one of the more locally sourced species like Ash. Of which I have a bunch all ready. I just need it to be 1″ thick or thinner instead of the 9/4 it is now. Which is heavy and unwieldy. Things to consider for the fall. Unless a very specific request comes in from my spouse, I won’t be building any furniture for at least eight child filled weeks. Yesterday’s rushed rabbit hutch was the last of it for now. Unless we need an outdoor over sized hutch for the rabbit to live in.

More akin to a hidey hole safe spot than a full blown hutch. Had to hurry as the kids are in school for less than a half day today. Summer break starts at 11:31am! Yahoo. So I rushed a bit, and that’s ok. I felt a bit lost yesterday with no projects in the shop. I did, however, start on a packaging job, which should last until August/September. And I have reports coming at some point soon. Plus it’s a long weekend, and the town has many events planned.

In between projects I’d like to get out on our bikes for a bit, swim a bunch, use the park far more than we have been doing, and get the kids to help weed our garden beds, so it’s not just me 100% of the time. Feels odd to have an actual, really real last day of school. The last three school years ended with us all at home, so it feels a little surreal. Normalcy in a time when that’s not yet warranted. Denial will get a whole lot of people killed, or critically injured internally over the next 18-24 months.

However, most are off on travel adventures, so we’ll become isolated once more! Less likely to get sick if we’re all home alone anyway. It is Thursday, the last one in June of 2022! Crazy how this year is moving along so quickly. It won’t be long before those “See You, in September!” Ads begin to play on tv. Ciao Bella!

Among many awful things, wasn’t click bait journalism something detestable that has developed out of the later 2000’s, and the rise of the internet. Oh, it’s deplorable. Loathsome even. I hate to see it, and do my best to avoid stuff like that, though it is far more widespread than you would think. Lots of what I would have considered, upright journalism, is presented this way with utterly ridiculous tag lines and head lines written by fools. Ugh. What a waste of an important medium. Gotta get those clicks, and eyeballs on ads though. All about the revenue. Bah!

It’s a gray day here, overcast, with some minor spitting rain. No torrential downpours as of yet. My straw for a lawn could use it though.

I finished up my tapered legged end table made of Walnut & Hickory yesterday. I used Danish oil for colour, and Osmo clear poly to protect it, and add just a touch of sheen. Looks nice. My through and through mortises could do with a bit of work, but I’m happy enough with it as is. It’s all a learning experience at this point. Some might recall my sculpted Ogre Rogue bust which I’ve placed on top for photographing the table. The splines don’t pop as much as I’d hoped. I think the bleached sap wood from the walnut mutes the contrast a bit. No matter, live and learn. Moving along!

The final Monday of the 2021/2022 school year, oh how time flies when you forget about all those endless long days from before. And yet, here we are. 3.5 days from the end of term, oh my! We’ve got a cooler day today for a bit of a change up. It’s lovely outside. Sunny, with partial cloud cover and not quite 20°C. An intermittent breeze and lots of bird song.

Actually had to cut my grass today too. Well, more so the weeds and crabbe grass that grows regardless of rain water. Everything else is heading towards the beige/yellow crispy straw that we keep short for eight or nine weeks. It’ll go green again come September/October & November.

It’s a Monday, which means yet another swing at the Domestic Duties inherent to household maintenance. Laundry, dishes, tidying up, vacuuming & mopping the floors. I tackle toilets, sinks and the tub as needed, so every couple of days with these youngling savages that I live with. Also known as children under eight years of age. I foresee a great purge come September, as we have far too much stuff yet again. I keep on clearing it out, and they continue to bring new stuff in. Maddening! Madness! Miscarriage of justice I say.

Heading towards another long weekend which means fire works, food trucks and local town events. Perhaps even a funnel cake to look forward too! Icecream, powdered sugar, and all the fried waffle batter strings you can ingest before acid reflux kicks in your throat. Delicious! Truly some gourmet shit fit for kings.

I am indulging in a late breakfast. Had errands to run after school drop off. Then I started laundry before heading out side to mow the lawn. So I’m now both hungry & thirsty after working a bit without eating yet. Not as bad as shoveling sixteen plus inches of deep wet snow without having eaten first. I now know that that is a huge no-no for me as I am middle aged ( or there abouts) and my body doesn’t take kindly to that sort of shock/strain. The truce with the fridge remains as tentative as ever. Risked use of the ice machine which threatened a cascading failure like before, but we were watching, and backed off, shut down the ice maker and staved off disaster. It was tense there for a few hours. Luckily it did not dampen our date for our wedding anniversary and movie night. Much obliged Kitchenaid refrigerator.