Month: April 2014

Good progress on the Laundry Shelving project. Yesterday I finished the shelving construction and application of the edging tape. As you can see, I built in modular sections so as to make it easier to carry from the garage to the Laundry room.

You will also note the sliding doors which will keep paper products like paper towels and toilet tissue out of view. In fact, when I’m done, everything will be out of view because I plan on putting doors on to cover all the shelves. The shot below shows them in place in the laundry room.

The shelves themselves are height adjustable to allow for different sized items. All the exposed wood you see will be covered with 1.5 inch white trim.

MY Jane is happy and it didn’t take her very long to start organizing stuff.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I spent the day at home – Jane did a little gardening and I was out in the garage continuing to work on the Laundry Shelving project. Both of us are pleased with our efforts and pronounced the day a productive one.

Yesterday our plans, initially, were to meet up with the guy who is selling us his boat. We had a few things we wanted to measure and Jane wanted to have a better look at the galley. That didn’t happen as I will explain further.

Today, a Coast Guard ice breaker is scheduled to sail into Midland Bay to break up the ice there. Usually this is an indication that a large freighter will soon arrive with a shipload of grain for the flour mill in Midland.

After returning home, we had a fantastic dinner of meatballs and penne pasta topped with Parmesan cheese and garlic bread. It was yummy!

It’s a dull overcast day in Barrie, with the temperature around +2 C. It’s not shaping up to be a good day for gardening or any kind of outside work, so MY Jane and I have decided to take a spin up to Port Severn and possibly have another look at the new boat we are buying.

One other name that was in the running was Shenanigans. It was a close second. It might be a good idea to use that name for the dinghy. For it is the dinghy that will be involved in most of the “shenanigans” that goes on when everyone is up on the boat. 

Today it’s Friday and MY Jane is coming back home after being in Toronto on business since Tuesday. I missed her. The house is empty without her being here. Minnie is very nice, but she says very little. And at times she gets very demanding with persistent meowing until she gets what she wants. Like just this very moment, she can see that I’m busy typing my blog. Does she wait? No, of course not. She wants out and she wants out now!

There! She’s out….demanding little bitch. (Not really….I just said that cuz she can’t hear me).

I have a new project. MY Jane mentioned one day that the storage arrangement in the Laundry Room seemed to have a lot of wasted space. This is what I call “JaneSpeak”. What this translates to is, “You should build me shelves.”

So, while MY Jane is in Toronto on business, I went to one of my favourite stores (Home Depot) to round up material starting with (2) 4′ x 8′ sheets if 5/8″ white melamine. Also bought a sheet of 1/8″ white hardboard because doors won’t work at the lower right where the folding table is. So I have to put in sliding doors there. That decision came about when more JaneSpeak was spoken i.e. “Would sliding doors be better there?” 

Yesterday, I picked my sister, Terry, up at the airport in Toronto on her return from Nova Scotia where she was visiting with Stephanie and Ross and, of course, Megan, her Grandaughter. She had a great visit but found it hard to leave the little munchkin behind. They will all be together again in July when they go to Terry’s.

Do you believe that you can feel a connection to someone through a material object? I do. That’s why, when Chris said he didn’t have a use for Bill’s (Jane’s Father) workbench, I was reluctant to see it discarded. Jane has taken that workbench to every house she’s lived in since Superior Ave. So I brought it home to our house.

The two birdhouses pictured here, which now hang in our back yard, were probably built on this workbench when Jane was small and they lived on Superior Ave in Etobicoke. Jane has kept them over the years even though they were in very rough shape through squirrels chewing them and the weather. Last year she asked me if I could try to restore them and I managed to do so although the yellow one only had one piece of salvageable wood – the back panel. 

Easter weekend is over and, once again, it’s just Minnie, MY Jane, and me. It’s always so nice to have the young ones here. It makes me feel young(er) too. They always include me in their activities whether it’s ball hockey, darts, or just hanging out. Always fun. And always sad to see them go.

Today, we will be doing a little raking around the garden and some edging just to spruce things up a little. It will also be a chance for MY Jane to do some more long term planning to get the garden where she wants it. She is not a fan of a lineal type landscaping layout, but prefers a more “flowing” effect. 

She agrees with my suggestion that it would look better if we had some shrubs and small bushes along the fence to enhance the overall look. Today, I will probably uncover the waterfall in the back corner as well.

Our Easter dinner was a great success. Jane’s Mom, Ted, did a great job of decorating the dinner table and, of course, MY Jane did her usual magic in the cooking department.

We had glazed leg of ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, vegetable shishkebab, and shrimp for the main course and cake (two kinds) for dessert. Absolutely delicious.

Steven, Chris, Klae, and Tonya all arrived last evening after fighting Toronto traffic. Needless to say, they were happy to finally get here and Jane and I were happy to see all of them. They brought a beautiful flower arrangement and apple pie.

They also brought extra hockey sticks because there is a plan to play some ball hockey if the weather holds up. Steven also brought his quad copter that he got for Christmas and which he has yet to try.

It’s another cool beginning to the day here in Barrie as I sit at my favourite spot at the kitchen table having my morning coffee.

There is always something to see or hear out in our back yard. Last night I was out there doing ribs on our BBQ using a recipe I found on the internet. They were delicious! And so easy. Here’s the link if you want to give it a try http://allrecipes.com/recipe/barbecue-ribs/

Minnie (aka Minnie Minerva, the Gato, and sometimes “bitch” has) decided to join me while I type my blog. 

Yesterday, Jane and I went shopping for Easter decorations. When you don’t wait until the last minute, there is quite a selection of stuff out there. Here’s some of the stuff we got:

I will post pictures of the finished table setting when it’s all set up for Easter dinner. This year, we will be having our Easter dinner on Saturday because Chris and Tonya have to leave Sunday morning to go to her family dinner. Steven and Klae and Ted will be arriving Thursday but Klae has to work on Friday.

Two kitchen fixtures installed successfully at Ted’s place, but not without challenge. I got the first one up and working in about 15 minutes. Quite a simple task…just three wires to connect and the new fixture itself was quite light. However the second one presented a different situation. After removing the old one and getting ready to install the new, I discovered that a part was missing – the bracket that attaches to the junction box. It was not a standard bracket either. That meant I had to go all the way back to Home Depot in the south end of Barrie to make the exchange. That done, I got second one installed as well.

Ted is happy!

Hmmmmmm. Maybe I was a bit hasty in uncovering the patio furniture.

Got back home yesterday about noon and shortly thereafter, took Ted and Jane looking for kitchen light fixtures for Ted’s kitchen. Visited Lowes – nothing appealing there. Visited a lighting store – nothing there. Finally at Home Depot – pay dirt!

Well, amongst the three of us – Chris, Steven, and I – we completed the garage shelf construction project at Chris’ place. 

All of us were satisfied with the end result, but especially Chris, who exclaimed happily, “Now I can get in and out if my car so much easier!” I should have taken a before shot of the garage. What an improvement. 

At Chris’ today to construct shelving in his garage. Last night we had a great dinner and watched the latest episode of Vikings in his man cave. Huge projector screen. Awesome!

Today the back yard was alive. Robins chasing around the trees; rabbits (two of them) scampering all about; a squirrel galloping along the back fence (I call it their highway); and Minnie climbing her steps in behind the waterfall to sit regally atop the post.

Unfortunately, by the time I got out there to take picture of her, she had come back down much to the mirthful delight of MY Jane! 

Yesterday I removed the covers from the patio furniture and garden bench. I still have take off the waterfall cover in the back corner of the garden.

Jane has drawn up a new garden plan which will involve the planting of shrubs along the West fence and which will hide the fence itself. We expect that this will not happen overnight; more like an ongoing work in progress.

Yesterday was a kind of lazy one. I did go to Ted’s and attach some tie-back hooks for her kitchen curtains and did a little shopping for her, but that’s about it.

After dinner last night, I had a nice telephone chat with the owner of the boat that we are buying. I was extremely pleased when he agreed to leave two spare propellers and the BBQ. Also happy (very happy) to learn that there is a rudder indicator on the boat and that he has a current marine survey which he is willing to give me. Nice man.

One of the things I like most about our home is the fact that the back yard is such an interesting place. Being able to sit every morning and gaze into the yard is wonderful. Yesterday, Jane and I were having our morning coffee when all of a sudden, Jane spotted a rabbit. We knew Minnie was out there and Jane was worried that she would chase it and hurt it. It was only last summer that Minnie chased and a caught a baby bunny. Luckily for the bunny, Jane rescued it and set it free unharmed.

As I mentioned yesterday, we went to Thornton and bought some really in garden flags. We wanted something that was Spring like seeing as Mother Nature has not been the most co-operative around here.

It’s starting to look and feel like Spring finally!

Yesterday, we picked up Jane’s 93 year old Mom, Ted,  and headed for  Thornton, Ontario, home of the Flag Store. We needed some Spring and Easter garden flags and they have a wide selection there. By then, it was afternoon and all of us were wanting a bite to eat so we went to a small out of the way place called Davidsons Country Dining on Big Bay Point Road.

Busy day ahead. MY Jane is going to Toronto later today. She has a meeting to attend tomorrow morning and tonight she will be having dinner at a huge Sports Bar with Steven and Chris. She is looking forward to that.

Minnie is getting Spring fever. She loves being outdoors but, at 13 years old, she is not fond of the cold at all. This morning she jumped up (actually, I lifted her) on to our kitchen table and she gazed wistfully into the back yard.

Yesterday, my Mother-in-Law, Ted, and I worked together on her kitchen drape project. It amazed me to watch a 93 year old lady, using a new sewing machine, do a fantastic job of making an absolutely straight seam! And with no glasses either!