Month: May 2015

Yesterday, MY Jane picked Ted up at her apartment and took her for a hair appointment after which they came back to the house. Later, we then went to a local Fish & Chips place called Danny’s Fish and Chips and had a great supper. This place has the best fish and chips in Barrie and is right up there with the best anywhere. Ted stayed at our place.

After the show, we are going back to Steves place for a BBQ where we will be joined by Chris and Tonya.

It’s going to be a good day.

I have now decided that sitting in the back yard is my preferred spot for morning coffee. Especially on a bright sunny day like today.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I went to Lowes to get another pump for the waterfall in the back corner. This one is more powerful than the previous one and now you can actually hear the water gurgling back there. Quite a pleasant sound while I’m sitting with Minnie having my coffee.

It has become sort of a routine in our household that, by evening and after supper, we have a full dishwasher which either MY Jane or I will start up. Essentially we end up doing a load of dishes once a day.

I don’t know why I do it that way. It just seems to be right. Just a thought.

My first job out of high school was with Canadian National Railways where I was trained and worked as a Telegraph Operator. They had just phased out use of the telegraph and were then relying on teletype and Telex machines as well as phones.

The train crews knew if a station had orders by the train order signal which was either green, yellow or red. These signals were also known as train order boards and were manually controlled from inside the station by an operator.

If a station had no orders, the signal was green with the train order board straight up and a green light. If the operator had 19R orders, the signal was straight out and the train had to come to a dead stop at the station to receive orders.

If the operator had 19Y orders, the train could slow down instead of stopping and the operator would stand outside with a train order hoop so one of the train crew could stick his arm out and get the written orders from the hoop.

This was referred to as hooping up the orders. You had to stand extremely close to the train as it passed and a second duplicate set had to be hooped up to the tail end crew as well. On a hundred car freight train, by the time the caboose got to me, that train was moving about fifty miles an hour. Pretty scary because there was always a chance that steel strapping securing cargo might come loose and could seriously injure or decapitate someone. Of course, when I was eighteen or nineteen, that possibility never fazed me.

When hooping trains first began, they used bamboo shaped into a hoop onto which the train orders were clipped. Train crews would grab the whole hoop, remove the orders, then toss the hoop on the ground. Operators would have to walk down the track to retrieve them. A real pain.

Someone came up with a better idea. Why not just have the crew take the orders tied to string? No hoops to retrieve then.

The picture below shows first hoops used on the left, then the string method on the right

I am really enjoying our garden. I usually arise quite early, around 6:30 or 7:00 AM, and begin my day with a cup of coffee while sitting at our kitchen table. I have the coffee maker programmed to grind fresh beans and start for 6:00 AM. MY Jane prepares it the night before so, when I come out, it’s all ready including that tantalizing coffee aroma. Mmmmmmm.

This morning, when I looked out, I saw a rabbit beneath the bird feeder eating bird seed that had been thrown on the ground by the starlings. 

We’re not very fond of starlings because they chase all the other birds away. Jane went to Wild Birds Unlimited the other day and bought a type of seed that they don’t like. There’s less of them coming now but they are still a nuisance. Yesterday, one of them stole all the peanuts that I put out for the chipmunk…..the little bastard!

It’s raining lightly this morning, so I went out to the new shed to see if it was totally waterproof which it is. While in there, I took a shot of the yard from that angle using my new Photosynth App which allows for panoramic pictures.

I am really enjoying our garden. Yup!

Yesterday, MY Jane and I went to the nearby garden centre to purchase some plants for the back yard.    The idea is to try to cover the fence as much as possible and to have different plants blooming at different times throughout the summer so that there is always colour somewhere.

Jane has always had a liking for lilacs, so we got two bushes. One is a deep purple, her favourite colour, and the other is a white providing some contrast. 

In the back flowerbed, we planted some hydrangeas which will have a white flower and are a climbing plant.

They are between the Rose of Sharon shrubs and don’t require full sun. This is the new stonework that we had done recently.

As I was outside this morning taking pictures for the blog, Minnie came out to investigate as she always does. She decided to check out the neighbours’ yards too, so she climbed up the stairs that I made for her in the back corner.

She likes it there because it’s a perfect vantage point for her and she’s almost invisible amongst the branches.

One of our regular visitors, who we call Robbie, dropped by for some craisins to take back the little one  that is growing like a weed.

Yesterday, there was a frost warning issued, so MY Jane and I decided to err on the side of caution and protect the recently bought plants. 

The ones that were not too heavy we carried into the garage for the night and Jane covered the two heavy ones in the back yard with old sheets.

They look fine this morning.

Sometime this weekend we will go to one of the nearby garden centres to get some additional flowers for the newly turned flower beds.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I went to Bay Port in Midland to get our dinghy launched for the season. The battery, although disconnected over the winter, had gone dead, so I needed to boost it to get it started.

After a little spin, we went to Honey Harbour in search of a parking spot for the dinghy that would be closer to Beausoleil Island where we intend to do some camping this summer.

On the suggestion of Scott Cain, the General Manager at Bay Port, we checked at Brandys Island and were fortunate in finding a spot.

After that, I wanted to show Jane where Tom Rose, a boating friend of mine, kept his trailer right on the lake at a place near South Bay Cove marina. Last year some other boating friends had told me that they heard  that Tom had died. 

Just as I was pointing out where his trailer had been, who came down the road yelling out my name? Yup, it was Tom. He wasn’t dead after all. In fact, he was very much alive and he invited Jane and I in for a visit. It was a very pleasant time and great to reconnect. I’m very happy to know that Tom is still alive and enjoying life….spending the summer at his trailer and living in Texas in the Winter. He’s even taken up horseback riding and is going into a rodeo this year! 

Yesterday, while MY Jane took Ted to an appointment and I drove Terry and Dan to the airport, the landscaper finished the back garden flower bed and added topsoil to both flower beds.

We are now ready for planting additional flowers and shrubs which we will do tomorrow.

I also added shelving and hooks to hang garden implements in the new garden shed. Jane quickly got in there and organized her garden tools and supplies.

This now frees up a lot of garage space so I will be able to complete the garage insulation project. It’s all coming together. We are getting there…..wherever “there” might be.

Just dropped my sister, Terry, and her husband, Dan, at the Toronto airport. On my way back to Barrie

Yesterday I went to Lowes to get some hardware items that I need to install some racks in the new garden shed and, while there, I picked up some hanging baskets. MY Jane thought it would be good to have some colour and it makes sense to have some annuals like this.

After removing all the sod to create a new flower bed, Chris then turned the soil which, by the way, was as hard as rock. Hopefully, on Tuesday, the landscaping lady who is going to make a flagstone wall at the back of the yard, will take all of this sod away for us.

In the afternoon, all of us went to a local restaurant called Sticky Fingers where there was a jazz band playing from 2 to 5PM. We stayed awhile then went to another restaurant on the Main Street where another jazz band was playing. We sat outside on the patio, had a few drinks, had something to eat, listened to the music and chatted. DQ ice cream on the way home, then a movie and popcorn.

Great day!

Chris and Tonya arrived yesterday afternoon and almost as soon as they got here, Chris went to work removing the dead evergreen trees and digging out sod in the back yard to create a new flower bed that MY Jane wanted.

Yesterday, I assembled the garden shed and it is now ready for us to move the garden tools from the garage to be stored there.

Jane also hung a window treatment in the Master Bedroom to soften the look a bit.

Yesterday, while MY Jane was getting her hair done, my cousin George came over with his truck and we went to Lowes to pick up a garden shed that Jane and I had selected earlier.

This is what the shed looks like when assembled though this is not our yard. It’s just a shot out of their catalogue. I started working on it yesterday and hope to have it finished today. I have already levelled out the location and put down pre cast patio stones as a base.

With this shed in place, I’ll be able to get all the garden tools out of the garage and all the shovels and rakes will be much handier for Jane. As Neil Campbell says, I’m thoughtful that way.

Later today, Chris and Tonya are coming up and Chris is going to do some heavy digging in the garden as well as visit.

Yesterday, MY Jane went to Walmart and bought a whole bunch of Annuals to add some colour to our garden. She put together some really nice arrangements.

Today we are going to Lowes to buy a small garden shed to house the garden tools. We have been resisting getting one, but the garage is getting too crowded.

In the early 90’s, when I was Superintendent of the Peterborough Jail, I had responsibility for a half way house for female offenders. This half way house was operated under contract by the Sisters of Mount St. Joseph, an order of nuns located in Peterborough.

When you have corn on the cob, how do you eat it? Do you bite the kernels off from left to right? That’s what I do. Or do you do one section all the way around? When you finish, does the empty cob look like this?

MY Jane has her own system – one she invented as a child – and she remembered it last night at dinner.

She eats row by row, left to right, in a very systematic and precise manner. Here’s what the remaining cob of corn looks like.

Mind you, it takes forever and the corn gets cold, but it looks so neat and tidy, doesn’t it?

I think I’ll stick with my messy method, though. What do you think you’ll do? Are you going to try Jane’s system next time you have corn?

Yesterday, at the invitation of Steven and Chris, MY Jane and I went to Toronto so the guys could take Jane out for Mothers Day.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I went to Lowes to pick up some trim for the headboard project. I want to cover the gap between the top shelf and ceiling with something nice, so we chose a polystyrene moulding that is really a chair rail. I’ll put that up tomorrow.

We also went to one Jane’s favourite stores, Home Sense, to pick up some accent pieces to place in the shelves.

Today, Steven and Chris are taking Jane out for Mothers Day Brunch in the Beaches area of Toronto, so we are driving down there for the day.

Well, last night MY Jane and I finalized the deal on the sale of Georgian Spirit. The new owners dropped in to our place with the final payment on their way to Bay Port. They intend to take it to Grand Bend this weekend. We are looking forward to trying our new experience of camping, using Shenanigans to get around up near Honey Harbour.

I am trying to find a parking spot for the dinghy in that neck of the woods to make it easy to get to and from Beausoleil Island.

Yesterday, before MY Jane left for Toronto to meet up with Chris and Steven, she put the second coat of paint on the middle section of our headboard/night table project and then the two of us attached it to the two towers which were already in place.

The two table lamps will be removed when the reading lights that were ordered arrive. 

Crown moulding will complete the job.

The tulips in our front and back gardens are finally blooming. We have been waiting impatiently. Our crocuses were eaten by a rabbit or squirrel and some early tulips were eaten too. But MY Jane got some rabbit repellent and it seems to work. So far, the tulips are thriving.

Jane has already added some peat moss to the flower beds. These shots were taken early in the morning, so the tulips have not fully opened.

This is a shot of the completed walkway with the crescent step. No longer do the bricks slant down at the garage wall. It cleans it up and makes it look welcoming, don’t you think?

The man who did the job clearly knew his business. When I told him we were going to get the driveway done soon, he deliberately raised the level of the bricks to force the driveway guy to put down the proper thickness of asphalt.

Later today, Jane is taking a trip down to see Steven and Chris. They are going out to dinner together. She also is taking a load of stuff for Tonya and Chris’ garage sale which is being held on Saturday.

In the meantime, I have finished the construction of the last piece of our headboard/bedside table (the bridge) and I will be installing that today before Jane leaves.

Yesterday, MY Jane took Ted shopping at Georgian Mall and, by the look of the all the stuff in the back of the car, it was a huge success. Ted bought herself slacks, sandals, a new comforter and groceries. She even bought Jane a necklace and earrings.

I am sitting at my favourite spot – the kitchen table overlooking the back yard. MY Jane and I now have a few regular visitors to our back door each morning. One is a robin that is nesting nearby that we feed with craisins. The other is a black squirrel we call Petey. We call him that because Jane’s Dad, Bill, used to call the squirrels up at the cottage “Petey”.

I don’t know what would have happened had I opened the door at this point. I know what Minnie would have done, but I’m not sure about Petey. 

MY Jane has a plan for a window treatment in our bedroom. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond and she chose a curtain rod and some finials. In the meantime, I have made good progress on the headboard project. 

Despite the corners not being square, the floor not perfectly level, and the ceiling not perfectly straight, I think, once I fasten everything to the wall, it will look OK. Today, I begin construction of the arched bridge which will span the space between the two towers. Then we can sand everything down and paint it all.

Jane has ordered the LED reading lights for each side and, prior to assembly, I will drill the necessary holes in the cabinetry to accommodate them.

We also picked up a couple of wall outlet inserts that have two USB ports so we can charge our I pads and I phones.

Once everything is in place, I’ll install some Indirect LED lighting behind the bridge arch and It will be complete. Next pictures I post will be of the finished project.

MY Jane looked at the calendar this morning and noted that it was time to give Minnie her anti flea treatment, something called Revolution. She pointed this out to Minnie, who, for some unknown reason, dislikes it a great deal.

I had to hold her (Minnie, I mean) while Jane applied the stuff. It’s just a liquid that gets dropped onto the back of her neck (Minnie’s neck, I mean). 

As soon as I let go of her (Minnie, I mean) she took off like a shot.

That’s when I held her (Jane, I mean).

Yesterday, while MY Jane was working hard in the front flower garden, I continued with the Headboard project. I finished making the two doors and drawers for the base cabinets. 

Today I will begin making the towers as per the original plan.

Later, Jane is off to Georgian Mall with Ted.