Month: April 2015

Yesterday, MY Jane and I picked up Ted at her apartment. We took a leisurely drive through the country, on a road none of us had ever taken before. Our destination was a little village called Rosemont and a restaurant called The Globe. Jane had been there once before to have lunch with her friend Annemarie.

We arrived before the restaurant opened so Jane and Ted went into a little country store across the street while I sat on a bench soaking up the long awaited sun. Half an hour later they came back out and Ted was carry a carved wooden bowl that she had bought. Quite happy.

We then went to the restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and dessert.

Another great day!

Yesterday, MY Jane and I were busy! Jane has been organizing in preparation for our camping trips this summer. She has been packing necessities into bins and making an inventory of everything. Here’s what she has done, so far. 

We think that, with good organization, we can get everything we need, including tents, into our dinghy 

and only have to make one trip.

She also cleaned some cushions for the white glider/rockers that we brought back from the boat and is sewing ties for the newly painted red two-seater. Those cushions look pretty nice, don’t they?

In the meantime, I spent yesterday morning picking up material that I need for the Headboard/Bookcase project. In the afternoon I began working on it.

My mobile work station was a big help. Not only does it have my table saw and router on it, but it also serves as an assembly table when I retract the saw blade. In the photos above, I am using the Kreg Jig system for the joinery. I even joined some narrow stock together using this jig system.

You can barely see the joint – and this is without a planer or glue.

I managed to get all the cutting done for the two base cabinets and even got one cabinet assembled except for the drawer and door. Here’s what it looks like so far.

This morning we are picking up Jane’s Mom, Ted, and taking her to a little place in the country for lunch. It’s shaping up to be a nice day!

This morning, I finalized the plan for the base cabinet construction.

In reviewing everything, I realized that the drawer sliders should be installed during the initial construction, not after. Just to be easier.

So, after breakfast, I will head off with MY Jane to Lowes

Since doing the Master Bedroom floor with laminate and re-locating the bed, MY Jane and I have decided that it would be nice to have a custom headboard/bedside table arrangement. We want to remove the tables and lamps that are there now and have something that will, on my side, accommodate my stuff and the same on Jane’s side. Here’s the setup now.

What we have in mind is something like the overview drawing below:

I intend to construct this in modular sections with the base cabinet having a door, the side towers ( as I call them) having several shelves and the bridge section, all being built separately and then assembled in place. The centre section will have an arch that follows the contour of bed head rail. Jane may cover that shaded arch area with a fabric that will match the window seat cushion (which she will make) and the window treatment fabric (which she will also make).

I’ll include a reading light on each side.

Once I finish the project sketches, I’ll be able to come up with a materials list and when we decide whether to paint it or have something with a wood grain, I’ll be able to get started.

MY Jane’s longtime girlfriend, Rita, came for a weekend visit. It was delightful. Seeing Jane and Rita laughing together and reminiscing about old times and recalling former teachers and classmates was great fun. 

Yesterday afternoon, Jane took Rita down to the Barrie waterfront where they went for a walk along the boardwalk and sat for awhile on a park bench doing more reminiscing and chatting while watching the ducks.

It was a comfortable, laid back weekend, one I hope we can repeat soon. Rita is a great conversationalist and we very much look forward to her next visit. And Minnie loves her!

Well, enough is enough! I have put a contract out on Old Man Winter!

This morning, when I looked out into our backyard, everything is white again. WTF!

Anyone who can guarantee getting rid of all traces of Old Man Winter by tomorrow afternoon will be amply rewarded.

In the meantime, MY Jane and I are looking forward to a weekend visit from her longtime friend, Rita, who is coming up from Toronto today. 

And this morning, I am going over to Ted’s place to help her prepare for the delivery of a new fridge. Apparently the freezer door on hers is cracked and Vince, the Superintendent of the building, says it would be cheaper to just replace the whole fridge instead of trying to repair it.

Yesterday, MY Jane continued sorting things that we retrieved from the boat while I busied myself with a few little things. 

The original drawing was done a few weeks ago by Chris and I have been using it as my Facebook profile since then. Jane and I reproduced it for the target. I think Chris had me in mind when he did this caricature, but Jane says, “Oh no! Chris wouldn’t do that!” Funny though – she’s grinning quite a bit when she says that.

You can watch me throwing a few practise shots by clicking here:

http://youtu.be/u8ociPa9aGM

Hopefully this will be the last of the snow!

Jane’s longtime friend, Rita, is coming from Toronto to visit this weekend. We are looking forward to seeing her. It will be fun!

Yesterday, MY Jane and I, along with my cousin George, went to Bayport Yachting Centre in Midland to clear out our personal belongings from Georgian Spirit. It went very well and we managed to get everything in one trip. Without George’s truck, though, we would have had to make several trips.

It was a strange feeling, at this time of year, to be taking things off a boat instead of putting things on. Although somewhat bittersweet, I am glad we made this decision. It will open up a brand new door. 

Jane and I will be able to do the travelling we have talked about and, of course, we still plan to do some camping up and around Georgian Bay, the area that we are so passionate about. 

Despite selling the boat, the genuine Georgian Spirit that helps define who both of us are, will forever remain. Of that, there is no doubt!

Yesterday, MY Jane and I picked up the Roman blinds we ordered three weeks ago through Home Depot. Got them home and installed right away. They fit very well, but after putting them up, I realized they had put the wrong pull cord mechanism on them. We had ordered continuous feed to avoid having cords dangling. They didn’t do that. Have to talk to them.

After breakfast, we will be heading to the boat with my cousin George to remove our belongings from Georgian Spirit. I’m hoping we can get this all done today.

Yesterday afternoon, MY Jane and I decided, just for a change of pace, to take a ride toward Orillia. We followed a road which paralleled the lakeshore, a road that neither of us had been on before. As were driving along, we saw a whole bunch of plastic tubing strung amongst the trees. I said to Jane, “There’s a sugar bush”. Sure enough, a short distance down the road, we saw a sign that read Shaws Maple Syrup.

Later, we learned that the Shaw Family have been tapping these trees for five generations. 

They are a vacuum system that draws sap from over 5000 trees to a central boiling down station.

We were the last customers of the season. They were closing down the restaurant and shutting down the sap operation a half hour after we left.

Needless to say, we couldn’t leave without some maple syrup.

We continued on as far as Orillia where we drove by the port of Orillia docks, a favourite destination for Lake Simcoe boaters. The office had burnt down last Winter and has yet to be re-built. 

An interesting and fun day.

The three evergreen trees we planted last year didn’t make it. I don’t really understand what happened. We watered them and gave them fertilizer, but they still died.

They will have to be replaced soon. Probably within the next couple of weeks. 

In the meantime, we will have to go up to the boat this coming week to remove linens, dishes and other stuff in preparation for the closing of the sale of Georgian Spirit.

A couple of days ago, I had someone come to give me a quote on getting a new driveway. The current one has pretty well had the biscuit. There are a lot of cracks in it and dips caused by the weight of cars being parked in exactly the same spot time after time.

Now that the makeover of the Master Bedroom is done, I’m going to take a little break. However, I do want to change the toilet in the downstairs bathroom because the one that’s in there now is not very efficient. 

Sometime in May I will begin my next major project of building a deck adjacent to the back of the house. Did you know that there is a “deck design” feature on Lowes website? All you have to do is enter dimensions and type of wood and it will calculate all the materials you need including joist hangers etc. and give you an estimated cost of the material. And your personal plan gets saved on their database so you can go in and discuss details.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I worked hard to finish the Master Bedroom makeover. We managed to have it all done and the bed put back together before 4PM. 

We were both pretty tired, but very happy. We changed the orientation of the bed location and it has created much more space in the room. And the lighter colour makes it seem even bigger. The new duvet and pillow shams that Jane bought look great. She wants to make a seat cushion for the bay window and put up some window treatments to soften the look a bit more. She has such a great eye for decorating. 

To celebrate, I suggested to Jane that we go out to dinner, so that’s what we did. We had a great time at a little restaurant called The North in downtown Barrie. 

Yesterday, MY Jane and I went to Lowes first thing after breakfast and got baseboard material and also selected a paint for the master bedroom. Jane selected a great colour that will pick up the tones from the new duvet and bed skirt. She has a fantastic eye for colour and home decorating.

This morning I am taking the car in to have the summer tires put on and have the brakes done. Right after that, I’ll tackle the baseboards. I’m optimistic for a quick installation because, as I mentioned previously, I was very careful in the removal of the old ones and got them off intact. This will make for speedy and accurate measuring.

Today’s goal is to complete the job and have the bed back together by this evening.

Well, I didn’t get as far as I wanted to in my flooring project, but MY Jane completed her garden bench painting job. She changed it from black to fire engine red. 

Today, we’ll carry it back to the garden and Jane will do any needed touch-ups, but it looks very good!

I will carry on laying more flooring today. Yesterday, the beginning of that process, was somewhat challenging because not one corner in the room is square…..not one!

I wanted to make sure that, by the time I get to the front of the hallway, the laminated floor planks would be running perfectly parallel with the hallway hardwood. To achieve that, I had to actually move the whole section of laminated flooring ( section being the width of the room by about 5 board widths). I think it will be OK. Here’s what I have done so far:

There was a little lost time because I wanted to take the old carpet and underlay to the landfill just to get it out of the way. Today, I’ll make better progress.

MY Jane and I were trying to decide which direction the joints of the laminate floor should run so we loosely placed several of the planks on the floor at the doorway. First we placed them perpendicular to the existing hardwood in the hallway.

Then we tried them parallel to the existing hardwood.

Both of us agreed that parallel is the way to go.

I hope to have the actual flooring completed by the end of the day. Fortunately, these days there instructional videos on you tube which are very helpful to amateurs like me. I watched one specifically for Armstrong laminates and learned several helpful hints which should make it go a lot easier.

Tomorrow I will buy the doorway transition piece and the baseboard material. I intend to use the same baseboards as the rest of the house. (Picture below) When I was removing the old stuff, I was very careful to not break any of the lengths so I can use them for measuring the new pieces.

Well, MY Jane and I have decided on our next project. We’re going to tear out the carpets in the master bedroom and guest room and put down laminate flooring. My friend, Larry, who is in the construction business had recommended engineered flooring because it’s more like real wood. But it costs about twice the price of laminate. 

My mobile work station project is totally complete. The router top and table saw top are exactly the same height from the floor so, when working with long or wide pieces of wood, one acts to support material for the other. They are the optimum height from the floor i.e. 34″.

The drawers hold all my router bits, and saw blades as well as my orbital sander and sandpapers.

The storage space under the router will hold my portable router and accessories. Because I was forever misplacing the wrench needed to change router bits, I permanently attached it right to the work station just to the right of the router.

I used an electrical box and cord given to me by my friend, John, so that I can just plug the cord into the wall outlet while both the saw and router are plugged into the box which I fastened to the work station. I put a bracket on the back to allow for winding up of the cord when not in use. 

It can then be rolled up against the wall out of the way on the 3 inch casters equipped with brakes.

I was actually using the work station before it was even finished to construct drawers and doors.

There is only one other thing I may do if the need arises and that is to add a fold up wing extension on the end of the station to the left of the table saw. Right now, I don’t have the material or the need.

Nice to have this done.

Today, MY Jane and I met up with my cousin George and his wife, Jean, for breakfast at a nearby eatery. Then we returned to our place as Geirge was interested in seeing the windows we did with the stained glass film.

I don’t know what kind we will get, but we’ll have a look.

Yesterday, MY Jane took Ted for a hair appointment and then brought her back to our place for a visit and dinner. We had suggested fish and chips from our favourite place, Danny’s Fish & Chips. She was all in favour of it and insisted it was her treat.

Every time she comes for a visit, we have a good time. Last night we watched a movie starring Morgan Freeman, one of her favourite actors – and ours too. The movie was called The Magic of Belle Isle and did not disappoint.

Today, Jane is having lunch with a long time friend, Annemarie. They have been friends since Grade 2. While she’s gone, I’ll make the doors for my mobile work station…..finally.

Yesterday morning I made dessert for the dinner we were having later in the evening. MY Jane and I had invited our friends, Jenny and Allan, who are neighbours from across the street.

Note: Gin is not part of the recipe for the Easy Eclairs.

Jane made veal scallopine, baked potatoes and snap peas for the entree along with mushrooms and a delicious sauce. Everyone loved the dinner.

We then went down to the Family Room and had some great conversation and a lot of laughs and, of course, a little wine. A fantastic evening.

Earlier in the day, I put trim on the stairs to the family room to conceal the wires for the LED stair lights.

There is more and more activity in the back yard these days. This morning, a mourning dove and rabbit were sharing breakfast beneath the bird feeder under the watchful eye of Minnie.

After breakfast, MY Jane and I are heading to the Island Airport to bring Stevens tires to him. We’ll have a visit and then, on the way back, we’ll stop in at the Lee Valley store in Vaughn to pick up the LED light diffusers. I’ll be able to properly complete the stair installation tonight.

Today, MY Jane and I have nothing planned. It’s been a long time since that happened. So I think I’ll tweak the stair lighting and prepare for installation of diffusers that I intend to purchase from Lee Valley.

I’m going to go with the surface mounted type including the opal diffuser. I think the opal will give us the look that we want – a soft kind of illumination. 

They sell these in 36″ and 72″ lengths so I’ll get the 72″ and cut them to the right lengths. They also have the mounting hardware to attach them to the stairs.

We will be heading to Toronto sometime this week to take tires down to Steven and on the way, we’ll pop into Lee Valley in Vaughn.

Yesterday, the plan was to pick up Ted and bring her to our place for the day. Unfortunately, Ted wasn’t feeling 100% so MY Jane and I went over there to check on her and give her an Easter basket as well as the flower pot trellis that I made her.

Needless to say, she was glad to see us and, after a short visit we returned to our place.

Jane wanted to have an Easter Egg hunt for Steven, Chris and Tonya, so the both of us hid 32 plastic eggs all over the place. 

They are all such good sports and got into it with enthusiasm. The competitive spirit was alive and well. It was so entertaining watching them look for them. Steven ended up finding the most.

31 of the eggs were found. Neither Jane nor I can remember where we hid the last one. Thankfully, they weren’t chocolate.

We had a wonderful dinner of ham and scalloped potatoes and macaroni salad with carrot cake for dessert.

On Thursday evening MY Jane and I were watching TV in the Family Room. We had prepared everything for the arrival of Chris and Tonya the next day. Steven had told us earlier that he had to work Saturday so he couldn’t make it.

Well, yesterday, while MY Jane took her Mom shopping and got her hair done, I worked on the stair lighting. I got the LED strips cut and connected then installed them on the steps. However, I am not satisfied with the install.

Today I will be working on installing some LED lights on the stairs leading to and from the Family Room. The lighting idea was MY Jane’s. Yesterday, I received the strip lights from a company called Hit Lights. 

Included was a dimmer switch and transformer to plug into any outlet.

The strips can be cut to desired length and joined with connectors. I plan to have seven 2 foot lengths of strop lighting ( one for each step) mounted under the lip of each stair with the switch on the post at the bottom of the stairs.

I have to lengthen the connectors for each step.

It’s a fun project.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I took Minnie to the Vet for her annual check up and shots. Jane held her while I drove. Fortunately, it’s only a 3 minute ride to their office and, despite Minnie’s loud meows of protest, we were in and out and back home in about 25 minutes.

I used two 24″ x 36″ panels of film and matched the patterns so it looks like one piece. Very easy to apply…just use warm soapy water and squeegee them on. The hardest part of the process was making the cardboard template to be able to cut them to size. We are happy with the result.

Today I’ll be doing the transom window over the main entrance door.