Month: October 2015

Steven arrived last night after dark. Jane, Ted and I were together in our sitting room chatting and having a few laughs. Suddenly, a zombie face appeared at the window! Yup, it was Steven. He had parked his car way down the street so we wouldn’t see it, then (even with one hand still in a cast) climbed on top of the fence wearing a scary zombie mask and peered in at us, scaring us half to death.

Later in the evening, while I was upstairs, Jane and Steven collaborated in pulling a Halloween prank on me. Jane donned the mask and hid in the Laundry room.

When I came downstairs, Steven very politely and innocently asked me if I could get him a beer out of the downstairs fridge. As soon as I went into the darkened laundry room, Jane, wearing that stupid zombie mask,  lunged at me and yelled. I just about peed my pants….lol.

Here’s the link:

http://youtu.be/gLTW4T_0g20

Many of you, whether you were a Boy Scout or not, will be familiar with their motto, “Be Prepared”.

I have always tried to live by that motto regardless of what is involved. For example, if it is camping, Jane and I make lists and double check them. The same applies to baking or meal planning or woodworking projects. Being prepared always makes everything more fun!

When Jane and I were out in Walmart last week, we noticed huge displays of Halloween candy throughout the store. In keeping with that Be Prepared theory, we decided to buy a bunch of candy to give out to the children on Halloween.

We set it all downstairs on top of the air hockey game, much to the chagrin of Minñie, who claimed that area as her napping location.

Well, it wasn’t long before one of the candy boxes somehow got opened. It was the one with the little Snickers and Mars Bars inside. Over the last week, the contents of that box has slowly diminished.

In fact, all that’s left now are about ten packages of M & M’s and ONE Snicker bar.

So, if you are preparing for Halloween by buying candies ahead of time, I have a suggestion. Instead of buying just one box of candy (especially if it has your favourite stuff in it), be prepared to buy two!

Have a happy and safe Halloween.

Long ago I learned that there are two consistent factors that will affect decisions you make. They are Time and Circumstance. When you think back to some previous major decisions you have made, I bet you’ll find that those two things played an important part in what you finally decided.

I think that the only thing worse than making a wrong decision (mistake) is making the same wrong decision twice. And in most cases, certainly in the business world, a wrong decision can be corrected by simply making another decision to make it right.

Have you ever made a decision you wished you hadn’t?

I was raised using the imperial measuring system. I was taught about pints and quarts and gallons. About ounces, pounds and tons. About inches, feet, yards and miles. It became so ingrained that I could easily visualize what people meant when they used any of these terms.

When I picked up that package of bacon the other day, thinking it was a pound and then finding that it was 375 grams, it made me think that this whole imperial to metric conversion smacks of a huge marketing conspiracy. 

The stately maple tree on our front lawn has fully changed colour now and within the next few days all the leaves will have fallen off.

In the back yard, however, it’s a different story. The leaves on the birch tree and the one large maple in rear corner have pretty well all fallen. I thought I would do a little raking yesterday while it was bright and sunny with no wind.

I ended up gathering up about three yard waste bags full. My supervisor, Minñie, who actually said very little, watched me closely as I worked around.

Well, the project I began a couple of days ago is done. 

This rack will hold 48 bottles of wine. It’s very practical because it restores the space beneath the folding table that Jane needs to keep her laundry baskets.

Total cost of the project was about $40.

I’m happy and Jane’s happy!

Some months ago, Jane and I went to Vin Bon and made a couple of batches of wine – 26 bottles of white and 26 bottles of red. After we got the 4 boxes of wine home, the only spot we could find to keep them was under the folding table in the laundry room.

This has caused a glitch in the laundry operation. Jane says she usually puts the laundry basket underneath the table which then leaves room on the table top to do the folding. With the wine under there, she can’t do that. What to do?

We decided that I should build a wine rack.  I started yesterday. Today I’m going to finish doing that job. So far I’ve got all the pieces cut and now I can move on to assembly. Love my Kreg Jig!

Jane has completed the Fall bulb planting. We will now wait until next Spring to see if all those tulips and narcissus flowers will successfully bloom. 

All the patio furniture has been covered up and readied for Winter. The corner waterfall has been tarped and the pump removed and brought inside. All that’s left to be done now is a little leaf raking. Strong winds last week blew most of them into my neighbours’ yard (sorry Lorne & Connie).

How many of you keep lists? If you’re anything like Jane and I, we have a grocery list, a To Do List, and Christmas Gift list. Usually we write things down on paper. We buy these little pads wth a magnetic strip and stick them on the side of our fridge.

Now that we both have I Phones, and we take them wherever we go, it made sense that we look into using them to keep our lists. I started looking around for an App that would work for us and discovered that there were all kinds available. 

But the one that meets all of our needs is one called AnyList. This one has so many useful features. Not only can you list your grocery items, it will intuitively sort them by Store Department and you can then sort the departments into the order in which you shop. For example, if you start in Deli, you can put that Department at the top of your list. As you pick up your groceries, simply tap on that item on your I phone and a red line is put through it.

If you have no items in a particular department, that heading does not show up on your phone. It’s so cool.

If you upgrade (only costs about $13 annually) you can have sharing capability with other family members. You can choose which lists you want to share like grocery lists and keep Gift Lists private.

It remembers recent items so you can retrieve them if you wish and it has “note capability” if you want to remember specific brand names. It even allows you to include a photo of whatever item you have taken a picture of. They have thought of everything.

You can also do Menu planning which is very helpful on those special holiday weekends where you may have guests coming. You can import recipes into AnyList from recipe sites like “All Recipes” and review your ingredient list. Then, by simply clicking on the ingredients you need in your recipe list, they get added to your shopping list and placed in the right department.

A few weeks ago Chris and Tonya held their Lumberjack & Jill which was well attended and very successful. One of the things that was most fun was the photo booth at which attendees could have their photo taken by a professional photographer, Chris Matheson.

https://www.facebook.com/chrismathesonphotography

If you need an an excellent photographer for your event, Chris is the man.

Here are some photos from that evening. By the way, I made the axe and saw props.

It’s that time of year. The leaves are beginning to change colour and float lazily to the ground below. Soon we’ll be out with our rake gathering them up before the snow falls. The clocks will be turned back an hour.

Yesterday morning I was called upon to do one of the things I do best….kill. Yes, I am a deadly spider killer. Here is the victim just after having his last meal. I had to do it to get Jane to stop screaming.

I am also a deadly Yahtzee player as Jane found out last night.

Coppersrgood (that’s me) 515 to 283 for Jelmar10 (that’s Jane).

Yesterday morning, Steven and I went to pick up some honey and maple syrup from the Naked Bee.

This a place just outside Barrie. I was very interested in going out there with them because I have always had this fascination with bees. After all, they work tirelessly without complaint, never go on strike, you don’t have to pay them and they produce one of the healthiest and useful products on the planet. Without honey bees, we wouldn’t be here.

The rest of the day was spent chillin with the Fam. How nice is that?

What a great yesterday! We celebrated my birthday a couple of days early because everyone was available. They surprised me with a cake and birthday balloons and a stirring rendition of Happy Birthday! I had already received my birthday present…..that earlier trip to Arowhon Pines for a writers retreat which was one of my best birthday presents ever.

But it was also our Thanksgiving dinner. Chris and Tonya could not be here because both of them had colds. They prepared their own turkey at their place and we timed it so we could all eat together via Face Time. 

Chris had his I Pad set up while they ate and I set mine up to give a view of all of us at our place.

It worked quite well. It wasn’t as good as having them here, of course, but it worked.

Everyone was able to enjoy the usual amicable banter that happens  at all of our Family gatherings.

Earlier in the afternoon, Jane’s Lumberjack and Jill wig got passed around. You remember that, right? Let me refresh:

Well, everyone had a try at wearing it. Here’s Ted.

Somehow or other, the photos with Steve and I trying that wig on went astray. It was a Great Yesterday!

Although there was a frost warning in effect last night, it didn’t happen and the impatiens are still holding on.

Have you decided how you’re going to vote? This little chart may help you choose…if you have not already voted at the advance polls.

I have decided already how I intend to vote. I don’t expect my candidate to win, though,  this time. But the party he represents may win.

Fortunately, it’s a secret ballot.

Do you have a favourite song of all time? Or maybe you have a few. One of mine was written by John Lennon many years ago. Imagine. Yes, that’s the name of the song.

I like this song because the music just seems to float and the lyrics have such a powerful message. Have a listen and let me know what your favourite song is.

http://youtu.be/yRhq-yO1KN8

Yesterday, while Jane was busy preparing all kinds of delicious stuff for Thanksgiving, I turned my attention to installing a garage door insulation kit. I had looked at different types and ended up getting one at Rona. 

This morning, the temperature inside the garage was 9 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. I believe it’s because of that kit. Next week, I’ll continue insulating the last remaining wall.

While inside working, Jane called me to come and have a look at a remote controlled machine being used right outside our place. Ever wondered what is an easy way to remove stumps?

Have a look at this:

http://youtu.be/kY3VgTLtAx4

One of the things that appealed to us when we were house hunting in Barrie three years ago were streets that had relatively mature trees growing. This was the situation on our street. And our house had a tall, stately Maple right in the front yard as well as several mature trees in the back yard.

This past summer we learned that virtually all of the city owned trees lining the street had become infested with the Emerald Ash beetle and the City of Barrie determined that they had to come down.

Yesterday morning I heard a lot of commotion outside our place and when I looked, a crew was moving along cutting down all the trees on the boulevards.

The City is replacing them but, of course, none of the new trees will be the same size as the ones they removed. It is really quite sad. Our street looks so bare right now.

Our place now has the distinction of having the largest tree out front…our beautiful tall, Maple that was unaffected by the Emerald Ash beetle. Below is a panoramic shot of our street now.

The current Federal Election campaign has been an interesting one to watch. It’s not interesting because any of the parties have a new way of doing things. It’s interesting because one particular issue seems to have become one that is getting a whole lot more attention than it deserves. I am referring to the wearing of the niqab by women at a citizenship swearing in.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not in favour of them being allowed to do that. For a whole bunch of reasons including the fact that the wearing of the niqab is NOT a religious requirement; it is a choice. So just choose to respect our tradition of not allowing hats or masks in citizenship ceremonies and get on with being a Canadian.

That being said, the inclusion of such a trivial issue in election debates is an affront to the citizens of this country who have a lot more important things on their minds like the economy, carbon emissions, poverty, the plight of many aboriginals in remote communities and the disgraceful treatment of our military personnel.

Does anyone out there really think that the wearing of a niqab at a citizenship ceremony is of such national importance that it should be discussed in forums that can affect the future of our country?

C’mon. Get real!

Last night we went to Chris and Tonya’s Lumberjack and Jill in the city and we had a blast. Both of us dressed up as lumberjacks but Jane went over and above.

Removable Tattoo, blonde wig and all.

This was the first time she ever wore a wig and the drive from Barrie to Pickering was quite the trip experience.  She was the driver, but she kept checking her new look in the rear view mirror, so our trip was, at times, a little on the zig zag side.

There were tons of games and prizes at the party and everyone had a lot of fun.

We even had a poster of Chris from last years Halloween where he was dressed up as a lumberjack that we used fir pin the beard on the lumberjack. He had a few beers at the time.

I recently downloaded a new App onto my I Pad called Star Touch.

It’s a digital version of the Toronto Star newspaper and I have been using it for the past couple of weeks. It’s a different way of presenting the news and I really like it because it gives me, the reader, a lot of options in what sequence I want to read articles. Not only that, I can skip any irrelevant advertising.

In addition to printed stories, there are videos as well.

And finally, there is a live update feature and settings which allow you to get alerts in particular topics.

It’s a great App. that I would recommend for I pad users. Free.

Yesterday, after breakfast, we headed out on our trip to Sebright, Ontario. We had chosen this as our “trip to wherever” destination by simply each pointing to a spot on the map and then marking the place halfway between. It just happened to be Senright.

It was one of this traditional establishments, with everything you could possibly think of for sale and also the local post office.

We bought a few things there then continued on our way heading toward Kirkfield where we stopped to look at the Kirkfield lift lock, part of the Trent Severn Waterway. This was built in 1900 and took seven years to complete. Since then, it has undergone several improvements including the introduction of electric controls.

Between the lift lock and the village of Kiirkfield, we took a couple of small side roads that were very much on the rough side. On the second one, we noticed a herd of beef cattle grazing in the distance, so we stopped to have a look.

As soon as I got out of the car, they began to head toward me. 

At first it was a slow walk, but soon they began to speed up and run. Jane, who was still inside the car, got very alarmed. She thought they might jump the flimsy split-rail fence, so she began tugging at my belt loop as I stood trying to shoot a video. Then she started to drive off without me hoping I would jump back in. Watch the video

http://youtu.be/JsW5mxXNOTQ

We then went to the little town of Coboconk where they have the smallest jail in Canada. Only two cells.

We had lunch in Coboconk and then completed the final

leg  of our “trip to wherever”, arriving home at about 3:30pm.

Around six, we went over to my Cousin George’s place for a great dinner and to meet his friend from Jordan, Mohammed, who works for Habitat for Humanity over there.