Month: January 2015

Although Minnie is what I would call “aloof”, lately there have been more and more occasions that she allows herself to be cuddled a bit. Last night, MY Jane and I were watching an excellent Netflix movie with Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith called Shining Through, Minnie got up on the sofa and made herself comfortable. Usually, as soon as you stop holding her, she takes off like a shot. Not last night!

She has even taken over the guys’ favourite spot. She meows when she wants us to put on her Cat video, the one she’s watching in the above picture. Should be interesting next time they visit.

It’s pretty hard not to like her….she’s such a beautiful creature, isn’t she?

During the past summer (you remember summer, don’t you?), MY Jane and I noticed that Minnie, from time to time, would eat a little bit of grass in the back yard. In fact, after one of the first snowfalls, with still a few blades poking through, she was still eating grass.

She won’t eat the grass unless it’s cut up and put in her dish!

Yesterday, MY Jane and I decided to take a little trip down to the Barrie Woodworkers Club in Barrie’s Victoria Village. We were given a tour and information about the club and how it works by the on-duty monitor, a friendly chap, Lucien.

I am seriously thinking about becoming a member. It’s about $100 a year and, for that, you have full access to all the equipment. It’s also warm in there.

Later, we stopped off at a Deli and Bakery recommended by Chris. It’s called Foxs and, just like Chris said, the food there is delicious. We each got a sandwich on freshly baked rolls and purchased some fresh bread and butter tarts. A busy place.

On the way home, we noticed all kinds of activity on the ice of Kempenfelt Bay. There were ice fisherman in their huts, ATV’s zipping around, people playing with remote controlled cars, and people trekking from one side of the bay to the other. The ice is about 18 inches thick and there were even cars out on the ice.

It’s nice to see so many people taking advantage of the winter.

Are they all retired like us?

MY Jane and I usually have coffee, cereal and toast for breakfast during the week and then on the weekend we have bacon and eggs or make our own egg mcmuffiin. We keep three or four different brands of cereal on hand just to change it up from time to time. 

Yesterday, when I asked Jane what kind of cereal she would like, she responded, “Brain Flakes.” She didn’t mean to say that. It just slipped out. I think she may have inadvertently been trying to send me a message. She has been winning at everything lately. She does the jigsaw puzzles on her I Pad faster than me. She beat me at air hockey last night, although the score was very close…..10-9. She solves the Flow Free puzzles faster than me. She’s just good at everything. 

Yesterday, MY Jane spent a few hours sewing.  The latest project was to make the round tablecloths for our kitchen bistro table a little smaller. They used to have quite a bit of overhang consequently, when you went to sit at the table, you ran the risk of pulling the tablecloth and everything on it would fall over. 

I suggested maybe borrowing Ted’s sewing machine but Jane decided to do it by hand.  The proper length! She tells me that she never used to like sewing much. It used to be more of a chore than anything, but this time she enjoyed it. It’s so much better now. She did a great job!

Now that you’re looking at this picture, I want to draw your attention to the flower arrangement on the wall to the right. Here’s a close up:

Notice there is a little spigot above the flowers. This allows you to water your plant using water from the resevoir above. Jane’s Mom, Ted, gave it to her sometime ago. There’s a specific name for this device. I never saw one before I met Jane. Do you know what it’s called?

Have you ever had to hang something heavy like or mirror on the wall (drywall) and there isn’t a wall stud in the right location? I ran into a similar situation when I was installing the flat screen TV wall mount in our Family Room. 

I used four of these and found them extremely easy to use and, after installing the wall mount bar, I pulled down on it as forcefully as I could and it didn’t budge. I am satisfied that the TV is safely secured to the wall to allow for adjustment tilting without fear of it falling. 

In fact, I said to MY Jane that if that TV ever comes down, the whole wall is coming with it!

I have just a few more home home theatre speaker connections to do today and that will be this project done! Here’s a pic:

Yesterday, while MY Jane was out shopping with Ted, I completed the assembly of the under TV floating shelf – it looks pretty good, I think.

Today, I paint it. Jane picked up some black paint when she returned from her shopping – along with a Timmys. Thanks darling. I needed that.

Last night, we went to the theatre to see American Sniper. While quite graphic in some parts, it was not, as some have suggested, glorifying war. Rather,  it was more about the mental anguish the main character endures. Not for kids or the squeamish.

Yesterday, I worked for a while more on my under the TV floating shelf. I used my new router and router table, a Christmas gift from MY Jane. I now have the shelves cut to shape and rabbet slots cut in the two sides into which the shelves will fit. Also, I have rounded over the edges of the sides and routed a nice profile on the front edge of the three shelves. The picture below shows the top two shelves dry fitted into position.

The bottom shelf is ready as well, but first, I have to make a few cuts at the back of the middle shelf to allow for wires and cables and power bar. By the way, the power bar came with the TV wall mounting bracket assembly and has two USB ports for charging I phones or iPads. The outlets themselves are fitted with plastic sliders that kid-proof the thing. Pretty good!

Before the snow fell, MY Jane and I noticed that Minnie was getting in the habit of eating a little bit of grass from the back yard. Apparently, this is good for them. Of course, once the snow hits, there isn’t a blade of grass to be found in the back yard or, for that matter, in the front yard.

Hope Minnie likes it.

Minnie, continuing with her shows of affection, joined me in the kitchen this morning while I was having coffee. She meowed for me to pick her up which I did. Then she snuggled onto my shoulder and started purring. She has never done this before. It was nice.

Since we’ve returned from our trip to Antigua, Minnie has become more affectionate than ever with us. Every morning, as soon as she hears me stirring in the kitchen, she comes out to greet me with a soft meow and then looks up at me waiting to be picked up.

The home theatre arrangement in the Family Room is a mess. Wires everywhere. Power cords all over the place. There are several components including the TV, cable box, Blue Ray, Wii Game, Apple TV, PS3 game box, Sonos music system and a Rocketfish HDMI router. After some discussion with MY Jane, we have decided to mount the TV on the wall, conceal all wires and cables in the wall, and build a floating shelf underneath to hold all the components as well as DVD’s. Right now, it looks like this.

I intend to make an under the TV shelf like the one below and conceal all the wires and cables in the wall. Let the fun begin.

Well, we are back into our pre-Antigua routine – almost. I seem to be sleeping a bit later. Today I awakened at about 8am. I normally get up around 6:30 or 7 am. MY Jane gets the coffee maker all ready the night before, so I come out to the kitchen to the pleasant aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Nice. 

There is a light snow falling right now and it’s about -13

It’s been awhile since I took the time to read a book. When we were away in Antigua, I had the opportunity to enjoy a quiet read of a book that MY Jane gave me for Christmas. It’s called Common Ground and its author, Justin Trudeau, chronicles some of his life’s highlights and provides a window of insight into his core values. 

The book is well written and makes for a comfortable, enjoyable and easy read. 

MY Jane and I arrived home last night around 10 PM, tired but glad to be back. We missed our little Minnie and she missed us. She was unusually affectionate with both of us. Our neighbour! Jenny, did a great job of looking after Minnie while we were gone. The snow and cold are a big change for the system after basking in tropical sunshine temperatures. 

Yesterday was another lazy day for MY Jane and I starting with coffee in bed and listening to my I Phone music.

We played some more shuffleboard after breakfast and then went swimming. Laid around the pool, reading.

One of the fun times during our time here was having dinner in the Buccaneer Restaurant with some fellow Canadians.

From left to right:

Gary, MY Jane, Peter & Janey Moore, Randy & Mary Copeland. What great people!

I have been meaning to point out one feature here at the resort that I find impressive. They use solar power for all the hot water.

Every couple of villas or rooms have the above pictured equipment mounted on the roof. The Manager of the resort says they save about 1/3 their hydro costs by doing it this way. There was never a shortage of hot water either.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I went to a nearby beach called Long Beach, a five minute walk from The Verandah. We took our snorkelling gear because we heard there was some good areas to explore there.

We rented a couple of beach chairs for the day ($5 each) and set up on the beach. 

Soon after, we set off for a coral reef not far offshore. Both of us had our snorkelling gear on, but because of windy conditions, the water was murky and we only saw a few fish. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun. We spent about five hours at that beach before heading back to the resort.

On our return, we took a shuttle to the adult pool where Jane jumped in with her glass of wine to cool off.

After a short time there, we went back to

the main pool bar and had a drink. After all, we had done quite a bit up to that point and we needed to rest! This time, Jane got me a drink called Mystic Crush, a mango smoothie – quite enjoyable and different from my usual diet coke.

Back to the room to change and get ready for dinner at the Sea Breeze buffet. It was an Italian theme and they had all kinds of delicious Italian food.

Yesterday, MY Jane and i went to Devils Bridge, a 10 minute walk over a dirt road from our resort. The story is that slaves who became depressed and despondent  would throw themselves off the bridge when they felt they had nothing to live for.

You can see a video I took of the surf breaking by clicking on this link:

http://youtu.be/hflBoXKtjgo

We then went to the main beach to cool off. An incoming rainstorm caused us to head for shelter at the beach bar and grill where we had lunch.

Later in the evening, we went to

The Buccaneer Restaurant on site and had a wonderful a la carte dinner.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I spent some more time at Rasta beach and then playing some pool and shuffleboard. 

Although Jane hasn’t played pool since her university days, she did very well. Not well enough to win, though.

We then went to a nearby public beach, about a five minute walk from our place. 

There is a reef not too far out that has we are told is good for snorkelling so we are going to give that a try tomorrow when it is not so busy.

Yesterday, after breakfast, MY Jane and I headed out to play shuffleboard. It was her first time playing this game. Despite that, she won handily 61-45. 

That shuffleboard game was quite a workout in the hot Antiguan sun, so we headed for the Adult pool, a short distance from the shuffleboard court. We swam and sunned and swam some more.

Then it was off to mini golf for the long awaited re-match. If you recall, Jane had won the previous game by a score of 56 to 50. Needless to say, Jane was off her golf game and my getting a hole in one sealed the deal. 62-48! And that was for the championship! Yay for me! Lol.

We next headed to the smaller of two beaches at the Verandah Resort- it’s the one with the beach bar that makes it very handy. We had a bite to eat there. Jane had a ham and cheese panini with tomatoes and cucumbers while I had a hot dog.  We spent most of the afternoon there sunbathing and reading.

In the evening, we had a dinner reservation at the up scale restaurant at the Verandah. Although we had an all inclusive package, there was a surcharge for Nicole’s. It was well worth it. Jane wore her new red dress and looked  absolutely stunning! Heads were turning when we walked in!

The meal was delicious and the ambience was perfect.

After dinner, we headed to the main bar where the resort was having a Kareoke night. Very entertaining and we had a lot of laughs!

Yesterday, MY Jane and I headed over toward the mini golf for our rematch. On the way, we spotted a foosball game and the next thing you know, we are into a full scale competition. Neither of us had any kind of strategy other than to try to hit the foosball toward the opposing side. The upshot of it was that Jane won 10-5. I must add, however, that I scored three of her goals on myself! By accident, of course.

We spent some time there and then headed to the smaller resort beach called the Rasta Beach. There was a bar there and you could get burgers etc. We heard there was going to be a wedding there later, so we decided to hang out and watch. At about 4pm, Mark and Lisa from Whitby Ontario tied the knot right there on the beach!

Yesterday morning, after breakfast, we stood at the little bus stop waiting for a regular shuttle to the main reception. We had booked a trip to nearby St. John’s, a half hour van ride away.

Tons of taxi drivers asking people if they need a cab.

Yesterday, after breakfast, MY Jane and I went to the beach for awhile. It seemed a little warmer than the day before and not as breezy. And there were more people enjoying the sunshine and sea breezes. We had a swim and found a nice spot in a small glade of trees right in the middle of the beach where we laid about and read awhile. Jane spent her time examining beach sand very closely and telling me all the different colours that were in such a small amount. This, of course, helped me concentrate on the book I was reading!

We had lunch at the beach bar and grill and then booked a trip to the nearby town of St Johns where they have a shopping area.

Later in the day, we went back to the beach and tried out the paddle boat which was a lot of fun and gave us a different perspective on the beach.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I went swimming  in the pool and then headed to the beach.

Later, we played 18 holes of mini golf and Jane won 56-50 but I won at volleyball – 2 to 1.

The food is great here as are the drinks. It’s great to be able to go outside without  parkas, boots, and gloves.

Until recently, I was very skeptical about the video game craze that has crept into every day life. When talking with folks in my generation or older, there was usually some reference as to what it was like when we grew up. “We used to spend hours playing outside. No TV or video games back then. No siree.” And we’d all nod our heads in agreement and approval.

We have been slowly getting ready for our trip to Antigua. 

I’m putting my stuff down one side of the bed and MY Jane is using the other.

This morning, she goes for a pedicure and later today, we will take Ted shopping to stock up on groceries.

Tomorrow, our neighbour from across the street, is coming over so Jane can brief her about Minnie’s habits etc.

It’s getting pretty exciting! Jane and I are looking forward to this vacation! Wait! I mean trip….. We’re on vacation all year!

Happy New Year, everyone. It has been another wonderful fun-filled year with MY Jane and I look forward to 2015 with a sense of anticipation and excitement. 

We made a small one for Ted and a bigger one for us. We already had some for dinner last night and it was delicious.

Soon, we will be winging off to Antigua, so the next few days we will be preparing for that.