Month: January 2020

Yesterday I made a post on Facebook, inviting residents and former residents to submit a memory of living in that town. The idea is to compile their submissions into a souvenir book to be made available for sale, with profits going to a needy organization in Temiscaming.

Of course, the book itself will provide future generations a glimpse into the history of their ancestors, as well as capture some wonderful memories.

Already, someone has submitted their story for inclusion!  And I have reached out to Margaret Atwood, our famous Canadian author, to see if she would be wiling to share one of her memories of Temiscaming; she spent some of her youth in town.  We’ll see if she responds.

I have also invited Ecole Gilbert Theberge in Temiscaming to encourage their students to submit their stories as well.  This could turn out to be a very interesting project!

Our daughter-in-law turns a beautiful 33 today!

MY Jane and I decided to take a little day trip somewhere. I had always wondered about the town of Creemore, after seeing Creemore Springs beer for sale at the LCBO.

So, after our daily Yahtzee games, we headed off to that little town, which is only 40 minutes from Barrie.

Just after arriving, and taking a little tour of what is a charming town, we spotted what is called the smallest jail in North America. Here’s a few pictures:

Then we stopped at a little bakery for coffee and pastry which was delicious. We chatted with a couple of women in the bakery and also a couple out on the street; he is the town’s caretaker and knew quite a bit about the little jail.   Small World!

It was a good day.

To help celebrate Temiscaming’s Centennial, I have sent their Centennial Committee a proposal to solicit memorable stories from residents and former residents of Temiscaming.

Those stories, both French and English, would be edited and collated into a souvenir book, which would be available for sale during the centennial year of 2021.

Profits would be donated to a needy organization in Temiscaming.

I’m just waiting for final approval after which I will begin seeking submissions. It’s an exciting idea so I am anxious to get started.

I ventured out to the nearby Bank of Nova Scotia after getting a letter regarding an inactive chequing account; I ended up just closing it out. There was only $5.20 in anyway! I was hoping that a few million would pour in from my book sales! It’s always good to have dreams, they say.

Afterwards I went to nearby Minet’s Point to have a Timmy’s and watch the ice fishermen; I couldn’t help but think that the wind blowing across the frozen lake would have been a tad too chilly for my liking.

It’s a favourite location for them because of ease of access to the ice huts as well as a parking lot.

All day we have been getting a mix of snow and rain making for messy driving around the city.

Fortunately, we don’t have any commitments that require driving anywhere.

MY Jane has been doing some baking while I have been continuing to work on my woodworking project. We manage to stay somewhat busy, working on things we like to do.

My Jane is gearing up to head down to Chris and Tonya’s tomorrow to babysit Max and I can tell that there is a sense of anticipation in her!

It’s been good weather to have a wood-working project; with my heaters and the insulation which I had previously installed, the garage is pretty comfortable in January temperatures. So I am moving ahead on the TV Surround for Chris and Tonya.

Today I got the second tower and bridge done!

You know, with grandchildren, sometimes we get excited for what others may consider mundane happenings.

I confess to being excited today! Max used a fork for the first time to eat a chunk of pineapple; we are both so very proud of him!

He has only two teeth but Tonya says he used them as well as his gums, to mush that piece of pineapple up.

Well done, Max!!

Today Adam Schiff, a Democratic congressman, eloquently outlined the case for impeaching Donald Trump.

This, after a long battle yesterday to pass Democratic amendments to the Senate trial rules laid out by Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

The amendments, 11 in total, sought to allow for the calling of witnesses and introduction of pertinent documents relevant to the trial.

However, in a blatant display of partisan bias, despite having sworn to be impartial, all 53 Republican Senators voted against the amendments defeating the 47 Democratic Senators. One amendment received one single Republican vote.

The so-called trial is a sham.

The Senate of the United States convened today to begin the trial of the creature currently occupying the Oval Office in the White House.

There are two articles of impeachment to be considered.

Sadly, the Republican Senators are not allowing a fair trial – no witnesses or documents. And many have already publicly stated their verdict in favour of the creature.

It is a sad, sad day for the United States of America. What has happened to them.

Today I picked up the material to construct a TV surround cabinet for his man cave. This will give him and Tonya some badly needed storage shelves or a location just to display some of their treasures.

Here is a Sketchup (new app) version of what it will look like.

Once I have all the raw material, I’ll start cutting melamine pieces to size and assembling it.

The last step will be to make cabinet doors with glass panels. Careful measuring! I think that this will be a good project for them!

I have begun doing some research into music boxes, with a view to making one for my granddaughter, who is expected to arrive sometime in April.

I want this music box to be a special one, so I am going to include some other features that will make it very unique.

Although it will look like a typical music box, it will also have a secret compartment something like the one depicted below.

I’ll include wood-burning on the lid, something that may reflect her Persian heritage. I’m still in the research stages and am in no rush.

We’ll gather pictures, articles, etc. from this year and tuck them away in the secret compartment and then, on her tenth birthday, we’ll give her the box and show her the secret compartment.

It will also serve as a Time Capsule similar to what I did for Max last year.

The weather network has predicted a heavy snowfall and as of late morning, there is a light snow falling.

I have been looking at YouTube videos for ideas on my next woodworking project, while MY Jane has been busy with genealogy about which she has become quite passionate.

She has looked at her family tree and as I previously mentioned, she reviews my family tree from time to time. The information and copies of documents she is retrieving is quite fascinating.

One particular piece of documentation revealed that my maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Sarah Webber (maiden name Geake), was first married to a man named Joseph Jarrett, who died five months after they were married, at the very young age of 35; you have to wonder what happened; what was his occupation? Maybe it was something dangerous. Sometimes My Jane can decipher occupation from census records but she is still digging.

My grandmother then married Alfred James Webber and moved to Canada where my Mom was born. It’s all pretty amazing as to what information can be gleaned through the internet!

And it was quite the revelation to discover that ancestors on my paternal grandmother’s side (maiden name Staples) emigrated from Ireland and my great-great-great-great grandfather, Thomas Staples, fought in the Irish battle of Vinegar Hill and was actually left for dead on the battlefield.

Last night MY Jane and I were invited to dinner with Allan and Jenny, our across-the-street -neighbours.

Jane had bought us a new game, Senior Moments, and we decided to bring it along with us and all of us had a blast after a great dinner. It was quite fun and I think that the libations that Allan, Jenny and My Jane enjoyed made it a bit more difficult for them, as attention to detail was required!

I have lately become a huge YouTube fan, having subscribed to several channels, usually involving the outdoors or woodworking.

One of my favourite channels is called “My Self Reliance” hosted by Shawn James, who used to live in Barrie and now has a log cabin in Muskoka that he built. He uses no electricity at all. He is married with daughters who come to visit from time to time. His steady companion is his dog, Kallie.

Shawn started building his cabin three years ago. He now lives there full time; the idea is that his wife is going to give up city life and live there with him. It’s very very rustic; no running water, indoor plumbing or hydro. And the cabin is small; I’m actually surprised that he didn’t build it with the thought of two people living in it.

It’ll be interesting to see how long the two of them will last.

Last night MY Jane and I went for an early dinner at State and Main after which we went to see an Oscar nominated movie, 1917.

This was an excellent movie that depicted the experiences of a young WW1 soldier sent on a dangerous mission to give a message to an Allied General ready to launch an attack on the enemy. The message was an order to stand down because they were falling into a trap.

It was a movie that kept both Jane and me glued to the screen.

Today the United States House of Representatives votes to send two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump over to the Senate for trial!

That trial will begin next week. Although the view is that he will be found not guilty, we can only hope that he gets his just desserts and is kicked out of office.

He is a vile, despicable creature that should never have been nominated let alone elected. I can’t help but follow along as it’s a fascinating yet convoluted process. And usually, whatever happens south of the border ends up affecting us to some degree.

The mysteries slowly unravel! MY Jane is finding out a lot of information about my ancestry on my mother’s side of the family. People I never heard of before like my Grandmother, Elizabeth Sarah Webber whose maiden name was Geake. And she has verified the name Jarrett, much to my brother and sister’s surprise. She was able to extract the details from census and birth/marriage records.

And she has come across a few photos which I had never seen like this one of my Mom and Dad building the cottage dock on Lake Temiscaming!

Brings back a lot of fond memories for me, especially because I have very few photos of my life when I was a boy and young man.

I decided to venture out on a mission for Chris- I wanted to check material prices for a TV surround for Chris at Lowe’s and a Tim Horton’s coffee was calling!

This morning I finally completed the ROKER 3D puzzle and got it operating properly. Imagine my dismay, though, when I discovered a second set of warped pieces in the replacement box! I managed to put a pen to good use to flatten the warp so I could get it going.

It’s kind of mesmerizing to watch the steel ball bearings move along as the gears are slowly cranked.

MY Jane is continuing to work on genealogy with a focus on my mother’s side of the family; from time to time, she switches from the Lack/Ball family tree to mine.

My grandmother, according to my sister, had the maiden name of Geake, although Jane has a possible match with the last name being Jarrett. She has to do more research and no one in the family seems to know the name Jarrett ?!

First thing this morning there was an alert that sounded on our phones with a message regarding a situation at the Ontario nuclear power plant! Oh, this had our attention! All the family live near to it; luckily, it was later acknowledged to be a mistake.

Hopefully they will thoroughly investigate in order to ensure there is not a similar recurrence!

Later on in the morning, I tweaked my blogs after MY Jane spent yesterday editing them. I then did a print review and it looks great. I sent it in to be printed and bound into a hardcover book like in previous years. We are getting a bit of a family library; the last task to do is choose the front and back covers and we both review our photos and try to pick ones that are highlights of the year.

Aside from wrapping up that project for another year, it was a good day to remain inside as we had freezing rain and snow last night. Thank goodness for being retired!!

I had a phone call with my sister Terry, who told me she had a car accident last week on her way to North Bay! She ended up in a snowbank! The car was a write-off, with all four air bags having deployed and caused damage to the front end.

Fortunately, an MTO vehicle saw her car tracks going into the snow and he ended up shovelling snow away from the car, so she could open the door and get out.

She is going to North Bay tomorrow with the rental car that she has being paid by the insurance to see about purchasing another vehicle.

Thankfully she did not sustain any serious injuries!

My Jane had the idea that I would enjoy a 3D puzzle for Christmas, but when I opened the package, there were some warped pieces. I was disappointed because, as you know, she was right in thinking that I would like to try my hand at this.

Thanks to MY Jane’s tenacity, not only did we get a refund for a warped wooden 3D puzzle by ROKR, they sent us a brand new replacement! She had bought it on Amazon so we weren’t sure how responsive ROKR would be. It was a bit amusing to read the comments from their support team, because it was clear that English was not their first language; however, they clearly wanted to make it right with us.

There are 254 pieces in this puzzle and the above picture shows the completed project.

Having spent quite some time on the first one, this second effort will be a lot easier!

Today I spent most of the day continuing to straighten out the issue with this blog. When I attempted to submit it for printing, I found many pictures attached to posts that were unrelated to the post. What the heck!

No doubt I created this dilemma myself, but I don’t know how. Another one of life’s frustrating mysteries!

However, after several emails with Blog2print and WordPress, I finally came up with a work-around and it is now ready for final editing by MY Jane.

I am extremely impressed with the efforts of staff from both those companies. They were all very willing to help, providing timely responses and clearly interested in coming up with a solution to my issue.

Thanks to all, we are ready to move ahead!

Yesterday, a plane departing from Tehran, destined for Kiev, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing everyone on board. Fifty-seven people were Iranian-Canadians.

Preliminary information points to that plane having been shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile. What with the unrest in that area, and the conflict between the United States and Iran, it’s a very complex situation and so many families forever affected.

The investigation(s) continue, but the unnecessary loss of life is such a tragedy.

Back home and it’s a cold and windy day, with snow squalls whistling through the area. Im thankful that we are not on the road from Toronto. It’s a good day to be staying inside where it’s nice and warm. The fireplace is quite inviting!

I am still trying to resolve my blog2print issue for the annual book, having received some helpful information from that company. I have to try to review some posts in the HTML version to try to remove some 40 unwanted photos. How this has happened is a mystery!

On another note, a sad one at that, a former correctional colleague, Brian Bell, passed away on January 2nd. He had only retired a year ago, he and his partner, Nora, were here for dinner a couple of years ago and we both had a fun and lively evening. Brian was young and full of life, quite a loss.

Oh, we are excited today! This morning MY Jane and I are heading to Toronto to see our Max and babysit while Tonya attends an appointment.

Here’s a picture of him with his doting Grandma. He loved dabbling his fingers in a bowl of water and he learned that he has the strength to actually push the big heavy front door closed !  (somewhat, with a wee bit of help)

It was a delightful time and he was quite happy in her arms and exploring some nooks and crannies. Needless to say, Grandma was in heaven and I loved seeing them together!

Just a couple of days ago, the back yard was almost totally bare. Today, it’s a different story!

Overnight, we got another load of snow, a fresh carpet to cover up the drab leaves and hibernating bushes.

Looking quite pretty out there.

Fortunately, we don’t have anywhere we have to go today as I think that the roads may not be quite cleared yet.

Today I began reviewing last year’s posts in readiness for the annual book, created with blog2print.

I discovered that some of the posts had unrelated photos included after the conversion process was done. I’m note sure how that happened, but I don’t think I did it; I have sent a note to blog2print to find out if they can help correct this issue. Hopefully they’ll have the answer.

Aside from that, it was a pretty quiet day, as we settle back into our simple, retired winter life.

While MY Jane brought back out our everyday touches throughout the house, I dismantled all the outside lights and Christmas flags. I replaced the flags with generic winter ones, so the neighbours can still enjoy them on their walks.

Being a mild day, I decided to bring Minnie outside for some fresh air and change of scenery. She quite enjoyed sitting on the deck, sniffing the air and overseeing her jungle.

Most of the snow has gone now, so she stayed out for awhile.

Ah, the annual task of taking down Christmas decorations, sigh!

We managed to get all the inside decorations carefully boxed and packed into bins until next year. All the memories tucked away.

And our live tree has been put outside for pickup; the city of Barrie will grind it to chips for the local park walkways.

Tomorrow I will take down the outside lights and finish everything off. It always looks so bare right after Christmas is cleared away.

Another year has passed. Make that another decade. 2020 rolls in and we are looking forward to exciting times. Happy New Year, everyone!

Another grandchild – a little girl – is due in April and we couldn’t be happier! We are both counting the days!

We had Steven and Sara visit with us, to ring in the New Year. They had a great dance, the 3 of them and we captured it on video! We all even managed to stay up until midnight! Somehow, that seems to get harder with each passing year!

Earlier in the evening we had a group call with Chris and Tonya; it was too difficult for them to travel, with Our Max being so young.

And of course we had a toast in memory of Ted. You are never far from our thoughts at any time in the year, but quite notably at Christmas and New Year’s.