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Tag: fighting

And it’s a Wrap on the Colour Belt Testing.

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With a valiant effort, and two tries at breaking the board my eldest managed a promotion to a full Green Belt in Taekwondo. We are all very proud of her for doing so. Three nights a week, and lots of sparring with other kids. We now have a few more weeks left until we hit the pause button on Taekwondo in favour of summer activities, so we’ll take care to learn what we can, and attempt to retain it for our return to the discipline in late August. Then she can aim towards a blue stripe/blue belt in the next set of sessions next fall. We’ve talked about it, and though she was initially eager to get to a black belt, her goal now is to stop somewhere in the blue belt, or red belt space. And you know what, I’m ok with either option. It’s not just me being cheap. If she knows how to throw a punch, and deliver a devastating kick to protect herself, and has undergone extensive sparring one on one with larger opponents, then we’ve done what we can to see that she is capable of protecting herself reasonably without heroics. Tick that box off the list. Call me satisfied.

This Sunday feels like an extra random day. Friday being so disjointed with the funeral, visitation, and social afterwards has left us feeling a little out of sync with the calendar. Yesterday was busy too, with the testing in the morning, and a four hour play date for the kids in the late afternoon and on into the evening. They were still up until 9:00pm, and were exhausted. They should have slept in until 8 or 9am today. But no. Still up before 7:00am like it won’t be a chore to get them out of bed at the same time for school tomorrow. They never sleep in when given the opportunity.  I’ll remind them of that once they become drowsy, mopey teens/tweens.

It was randomly minus sixteen yesterday, but sunny and bright with blue skies. It was rather deceiving if you ask me. Felt very much like the February I remember. Seasonal is the word I’m looking for. But this week will see lows in the negative double digits, and highs in the pluses in double digits too. Very odd. That’s quite the range if you ask me.

I had high hopes of continuing on with the pine bed yesterday, but those cool temps put me off the idea of doing any gluing fixes, or staining. Just too damn cold. The glue wouldn’t take, and the idea of handling fluids in the cold makes me shiver just thinking about it. My space heater is only good to about 12 inches directly in front of it, and I don’t fancy putting any fine dust particles into it, or having it run with flammable fumes in the air. Not looking for a ball of flame to the face. I do not wish to test any close quarters DnD scenarios about a fireball in a small room. 10D6 damage taken. Yikes!

The first of two sparring matches. Was she ever tired afterwards. Dominated the second round like a champ!
My timing with the camera wasn’t good this time around, and I failed to get any pictures with her foot at the Alex of any kicks. Had to ask for a still shot, and still missed it! D’oh!

That’s all for this cold Sunday morning. Take care out there. Ciao Bella.

Water softener vs Refrigerator: Which is worse?

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The freezer has once again kicked off and frozen over at the vents making the fridge portion warm. And the Ecopure 30K grain water softener still shows Err03, and is absolutely pissing water out the drain pipe though the internal tank is not getting lower, as the water line is up to the bottom of the six. So a valve is stuck open somewhere (from what I can tell, but not being mechanically inclined that’s a guess, based on the volume of water going out the drain versus what little to no movement I can see inside the tank, which is what should be draining). So… yeah.

My daughters room fan ground to a halt on Sunday night, so I have been out to replace it. In June I pulled it apart myself, and used my air compressor to clean it all out, and then used lubricant to quiet down the fan, which lasted all of a month. So either the lube didn’t get to where it was needed most, or it needs white lithium grease inside the motor, as the squeal was metal on metal rubbing. Hard to mistake that pitch of squealing distress.but now that it is trash I’ll take any machine screws I can find out of the unit, and will toss the rest. I have the older busted air purifier to do that to aswell. Plus an old iron and a broken, burned out blender motor base. The screws, bolts and such are handy. The plastic and innards less so, for me atleast. Trying to only pack rat the vital pieces, and not collect a broken electronics graveyard.

So that’s my Tuesday as of 9:30am. We were going to go to the driving range today, but storms and appointments got in the way. My wife has an hour long chat with her doctor right now, and I have blood work to be drawn at 2:00pm. So not a travel to wander a mall day. If work remains quiet we may just watch a movie together and listen to the rain.

I do eventually need to check that the softner is actually doing something, or else I need to go reset it.

I know that all of my tomatoes plants will be glad for the rain today. I didn’t water them much at all during August. They are massive and sprawling plants now. But few blooms or actual tomatoes. Until recently. Now the four plants might produce more than we could eat in a years time. Funny how that is. Apple trees went berserk this year too. Same with the grapes and raspberries.  Likely same with the cherry tree, but the birds and local wildlife striped my tree bare before we had a chance to collect one single cherry. Not one! The blasted pests ate them all as they were on the verge of transitioning from greenish pink to red. BAM! The whole lot gone. The squirrels ravaged my raspberries too. The local hare ate my strawberries, even though the plants grow back each year they don’t produce much fruit.

Back to the pesky water softener. So far I have swapped out the wiring harness, the switch, the cam, and the motor itself. Besides the circuit board and physical unit, there isn’t anything left for me to replace, jiggle, tighten or manhandle on this infernal machine. Next step is to toss it to the curb along with the previous twenty year old model. And then buy a third one and have that installed – again. Not going through five bags of salt a month is nice. I think we’ve used four since May. Better!

Not sure about where all this excess moisture is coming from for the freezer though. The lines are empty. Water line disconnected. The ice cube maker disabled. There is no frost line near the seal to point to an external leak. But the vents are positively frosted over entirely. So I need to empty the freezer – again. Thaw out the vents – again. Move the milk downstairs, and any other items we want to keep. Very thankful for the ancient fridge in the basement which came with the house. Can save the milk, eggs and bacon. Just emptied the freezer downstairs so I can save a few other items aswell. Good to have!

Offending water softner stuck on Err03. Where is all that water coming from?
Frozen over vents after 30 minutes of thawing in the open air. Soon to be 2L puddle under the fridge.

So much for Tuesday. How many more bandaids can I apply to these appliances before we have to buy new ones! The struggle is real. Ciao Bella!

Big Feelings – Tiny Little Baby Bodies.

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How do these furious & wild mood swings emanate from such small children seemingly from out of the ether? These two kids man. Woah! It’s like magic with these two. Pulling on endless streams of angst, anger, and histrionics. Not sure whether it’s all coming from frustration with video games, or the looming start of school, the end of summer, growth spurts, sibling rivalry or what. But it is here, and it is fierce. These two have a seemingly endless supply of “MOOD” to attack each other with. Enough  “BIG FEELINGS” to weight down an air craft carrier. Pray for us.

Here I was just 24 hours ago lamenting how quiet the house was without them, and now their frustrations, and anguish echoes off of every surface. It rings in my ears, rather literally once they manage to reach the fevered pitch of a tea kettle whistling indiscriminately. Did I miss their presence & smiles, and warmth of the heart. Yes. Do I miss the furious fighting? Yeah – not so much. My oldest, with less than ten days to go, has finally discovered the joy of sleeping in, but I’ll have to squash that in favour of waking up before 7am for school. Ha. One new set of issues to add into the mix come September. Glad for the hugs and good night kisses, could give the fighting a miss though.

So here we find ourselves once again, Thursday. With appointments to get to, errands to run, work to finish up, and an approvals process to observe. I think we are to have a few more days of rain, and if not rain then atleast overcast and cloudy. Temperatures more like mid to late September, than the dog days of summer like we are used to. Not that I miss the extremely hot stifling heat with no breezes that usually accompany the last days of August in southern Ontario. Perhaps we will once again wind up with a hotter November / December and on into January, with a wet cold October, and frigid February. Weird way to run things, but out of my control.

Hard to believe that we are almost into the ninth and final week of summer break. I feel as though we should be able to redo the two weeks in the middle, you know? I know we can’t, but that’s how it feels. Perhaps I over reacted by going and running a fundraiser to cover for being sad and upset. It certainly worked as a coping mechanism to get beyond the sadness I felt. Made it so I could sleep at night. Probably one of the more selfish things I’ve done in the face of emotional upheaval. Feeding on thanks & gratitude rather than wallowing in any sort of grief beyond the initial shock from the Monday night. Not a great quality, admittedly. But here we are.

I need to get a jump on a poster series for the upcoming Markham Fair 2023 at the end of September and very early October. So I best be about my business. Ciao Bella!

When the kids are spoiling for a fight…

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Oh my god, these kids are driving me nuts! All they want to do is follow each other around and start shit – constantly. Shouting & fighting for what appears to be no reason. Ugh! I’m sick of this, so very, very sick of this. The name calling, the breaking stuff, the little puppy dog following routine just to start throwing punches, scratches, or a bite. No wonder people way back when used to beat the shit out of their kids. Time outs, and being sent to their rooms has only worked for so long. In the words of the Simpsons, I have a “hanker’in for a spanker’in“. But that doesn’t really work either. Just makes everyone hate each other. Can’t lock’em in a closet to keep them apart either. Truly very frustrating.

I have high hopes still, that the two will like each other as they grow up into their teen years and beyond. A man can dream can’t he? Maybe it’s just a multi year long phase? Are they just bored? Upset by all of the impending cold weather? Out of sorts because Christmas looms so ominously large on the horizon. I wonder if the youngest is upset due to all of the birthday talk for the eldest’s birthday party that is coming up before Christmas. Could be a multitude of things given how complicated children are. Sometimes I have to just shake my head and walk away. Take a minute to decompress while they work in tandem to press all of my buttons at once like only your family can.

Now look, we’re all cuddled up on the couch watching Mike the Knight as they share a snack. So who knows what the hell is going on. Doesn’t make those tense moments any better. But I far prefer the quiet times over the tumultuous ones.

Gah! Kids. So much hard work. A real labour of love to keep all of our heads on straight. Kudos to all of you out there raising little ones. It’s a daily struggle.

Family in the military.

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Yesterday was the Remembrance Day/Veterans Day combo in North America. We are not immune to combat, and having a guardianship role for our countries. My tiny old Grampy D was in WWII, of which he spoke very little, other than to barely whisper that he lost a lot of friends to the war. My eldest brother saw action over seas, and my other brother was in the Army doing reconnaissance in a six or eight wheeled beast with a communications tower attached to it. I myself tried twice to join the Canadian Armed Forces as a MARS Officer, but I was diagnosed with Crohn’s and was told thanks, but no thanks, even after passing my physical tests, medical reviews, and a host of interviews & aptitude tests. For the best, given how prone to motion sickness I am now as I have gotten older. Those rolling waves of the east/west coast would have thrown me for a loop, of that I’m certain. A blessing in disguise. Not for lack of trying to get in though.

Eldest brother who went overseas for action.

Grampy D, who lived through WWII.

I don’t have active service images of my other brother. Or while dressed in uniform or regalia, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

For those young, and old. Those who returned, and to those who did not. Thank you for your service. Without your efforts and sacrifice our lives would be completely different. Stay safe out there. Ciao Bella!