Month: September 2022

This morning I disconnected the drip irrigation system for both the front and backyards and emptied the waterfall and removed the pump.

It is unlikely that the flowerbeds will need watering by us before the snow falls and I didn’t want to have to disconnect things when it gets really cold.

In the next little while we will be pruning and removing dead branches from around the yards.

Today Microsoft Flight Simulator dropped Update Eleven which focussed on Canada.

There were three cities identified as Discovery flights including Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

This game keeps getting better and better.

This morning we decided to have breakfast at Stacked Pancake House. Both Jane and I have been talking about doing this for sometime, so today was the day.

I had the Junior Stack and there was so much I couldn’t eat it all and Jane had the same problem with the waffles, but it was delicious.

I think, though, it’ll be awhile before we do that again. Had to get rid of that craving.

Tomorrow we are having our backyard awning inspected with a view to flipping the canvas to get the unused section, which is cleaner, more visible.

I have already spoken to someone at Barrie Tent and Awning and showed him pictures

I am also hoping to get some advice on how I might raise the brackets.

Today I put a post on the Kingswood Group FB Page asking if anyone had some extra loose shingles laying around. They would be used for Steve’s firewood shed that I built a few days ago.

Within half an hour there were two replies to my request so I went to pick them up earlier today.

I’ll take them down to Steve’s tomorrow and install them.

This morning I had a regularly scheduled eye appointment with my optometrist, Dr. Roberti.

I did the usual field of vision test and pictures of my eyes were done before I saw him.

He advised that everything was stable and scheduled another appointment for March of 2023.

This morning Jane and I decided to take advantage of the nice day and head up to Georgian Bay.

It was a bit breezy when we got there but once we got underway, it was fine.

We ended up at Tonch Point South on Beausoleil Island and set up our folding chairs on the rocks.

We will spend the afternoon here.

This morning the funeral service for Queen Elizabeth took place at Westminster Cathedral. Jane and I got up early to watch the television coverage.

There were about 2000 guests invited including heads of state from all over the world. Canada, as one of the Commonwealth countries, was most represented and a contingent of RCMP Musical Ride horsemen led the procession after the service.

It was a somber and respectful tribute to her 70 years as monarch, the longest reign in British history, and a ceremony steeped in tradition and symbolism.

Both Jane and I don’t feel like doing anything ( like I mean ANYTHING)so that’s what we’re doing. We’ll I am anyway. Jane decided to take a nap instead.

Earlier it was raining like crazy, but now the sun is shining and it’s looking pretty nice outside.

This morning we headed down to Steve’s to help him put some furniture in place and for me meet our new grandson, Royce. He is just beautiful and has such dark hair; he is definitely a handful and I loved holding him for the first time.

We got the dining room table assembled and all the dining room chairs unwrapped and dusted off.

Roxana is quite taken with her new baby brother and even gave him his soother the first day home.

Royce has been a very good baby, but when he cries, it’s a very healthy one. But even though he cried through the night, Roxana didn’t waken. Lucky parents!

Our new Grandson, Royce William Ball, will be going home today to meet his sister , Roxana Mae; both children have Jane’s parents’ names. Roxana has Jane’s mother’s middle name, Mae; Royce has Jane’s father’s first name and Steven’s middle name. Mom and Dad have arranged for Royce to give his sister a toy cooktop complete with pots and pans.

Grandma was already at Mount Sinai Hospital to help Sara while Steve went to her Mom’s place to be with Roxana.

We will be going down there tomorrow to help them get settled in and to get some more furniture in place.

Kitchen has been completed and all appliances in place.

Yesterday evening, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Royce William Ball was welcomed into our lives, weighing in at 9 lbs., 1 oz. He’s perfect and handsome!

Mom, Dad and baby are all doing well and will be heading to their new home tomorrow.

Grandma stayed at their place last night to put some finishing touches on the new appliances and tidy up after the renovation workers and electricians left.

Happy times.

Today the paint crew from Wagg’s Painting arrived first thing this morning and, by 3 p.m., they had completed the painting and had cleaned up.

I started putting things back in place and got my next door neighbour, Lawren, to help me install the new ceiling fixture which replaces the ceiling fan/light that we had.

New fixture has different levels of brightness, a timer and best of all, a remote!

The colour chosen by Jane was perfect, picking up some of the shade in the back splash.

Originally the kitchen painting was supposed to happen this Friday, but I received a phone call this morning from Waggs Painting asking if they could do the job tomorrow instead.

Fortunately, we had already done the prep work , so we’re happy to get it done sooner rather than later.

This way we can get the new ceiling fixture installed as well.

I also replaced the door knob on the kitchen door and ordered some PVC caps to cover the screw holes on the interior of the same door.

In preparation for the painting of the kitchen this coming Friday, I began removing blinds and the ceiling fan.

We will be installing a new flush mount light fixture after the painting is done. It has a LED light which will last for 50,000 hours and a remote which will allow for three levels of brightness.

Already the space is looking bigger.

Today, Jane and had nothing planned, so I spent some time on Microsoft Flight Simulator trying out a new plane, a Cessna Citation. This app has over fifty different planes available and they all have different navigational equipment.

Some, like the very small Cessna 152, use basic compass instrumentation while others use very sophisticated avionics like Garmin 1000.

So it’s a learning curve on all of them and that keeps it interesting.

While I was doing that, Jane did some light gardening outside as it was a beautiful day weather wise. We even had dinner on the deck.

We stayed over at Steve’s place last night and watched while the marble countertops were installed. They look great.

This morning the mason, Josh, arrived to do the brickwork around the front veranda.

While he was here, I used his concrete saw to cut some pavers and finish off the walkway alongside the house.

We drove down to Steve’s place late morning and did some deep cleaning of the upstairs. The painter, Nelson, arrived later to continue painting the downstairs.

Later in the afternoon a crew arrived with countertops and island countertop.

Dennis was back this morning to install the cabinet doors and hardware. He still has a few minor tweaks to do, but we are very happy with what he has done.

Next week the painter will be here to do the painting of the walls and ceiling and this project will be complete.

Dennis from Revive Refinishing was back again to do more work on the kitchen cabinets. After he left, Jane and I took everything out of the cupboards and thoroughly washed the shelves, after which we put things back.

Tomorrow he will have the doors to install and a little bit of detail work to do on Friday which should finish the job.

Today, Dennis from Revive Refinishing, arrived to begin the kitchen cabinet project.

He has removed all the doors and done some sanding of some surfaces.

Although he says we don’t have to clear out the cupboards, we will do that anyway to give them a good cleaning.

He will be back tomorrow.

We came down to Steve’s this morning to help do a few things, one of which was to assemble an IKEA toddler bed for Roxana.

Jane has also been tidying up the outside “solarium” area which we have been using as a makeshift kitchen during the renovations.

Today I removed the underside valance on the kitchen cabinets and replaced the under cabinet lights with three wireless LED lights that are battery powered. I re-located the paper towel holder as well.

I also re-located the switch for the over the sink LED light, placing it inside one of the cabinets – out of sight, but still easily accessible.

Revive Refinishing will be coming on Tuesday to start the door replacement.

This morning, right after breakfast, Jane and I headed up to Honey Harbour to take our Dinghy, Shenanigans, out on the bay.

Initially, we didn’t have a specific destination, but eventually settled on a little secluded beach near Frying Pan Bay.

We had our lunch there and did some swimming and I had some hammock time.

I received an email from Revive Refinishing asking if we would agree to a start date of Tuesday September 6 instead of the 5th because of the long weekend.

Of course we agreed. One day doesn’t make that much of a difference.

On another note, I have approached a young guy who lives a few doors away to see if he would be interested in doing snow removal this winter.

Both Colter and Carson will be away at University and unavailable this season.