June 30 -- mixing it up

Where to start -- well, let's take it chronologically !

Early on I worked on the bench for the laundry room with the router, to soften the edges and then the orbital sander, to get it smooth and ready for staining. It does look good. It goes to show you that with the right tools even an amateur carpenter can make reasonably looking furniture. I never used to like this kind of work but that was before I had the right tools.

I was able to use the router and sander outside -- I hope that I didn't bother our neighbours across the lake (I was out there working at 6:30). I was not aware that they were in until Sandy mentioned something later on otherwise I'd have waited until 7:30 ...

More drywall work -- fine finishing in the darkroom getting it ready for priming and second coat of mud in the bathroom. Having the right tools ? -- I'm missing corner trowels and so am really slathering the stuff on in some places which means for a lot of sanding before it is ready. There are a lot of corners in the bathroom too -- remember that the room itself had been finished last summer -- the basic square without a ceiling. I've inserted the shower, which creates some vertical corners inside and outside and of course put in the ceiling, with inside corners all around. It's going to be dusty work to finish this off. I'll start with the vacuum-attached sander for the rough work but then use the sanding block which creates a ton of fine dust. I wish there was an easier way, but there isn't.

The other three areas that need to be completed are the area under the stairs, which is a small spot and ready for the sanding block, a couple of spots in the darkroom and the bedroom, which has only had one coat of mud at this point. I'll check with Jason to see if he has corner trowels up with him.

It was mid-morning and Sandy and I went into town (Port Loring) -- TimbrMart was hopping as was Jakes (restaurant). TimbrMart had doughnuts for Canada Day (they are not open July 1st). We looked at a small vanity that Sandy had spotted for the bathroom -- what a deal -- a good looking vanity, sink, mirror for $260-something. We were originally planning on a pedestal sink but this was a "find". Well, we drove away with it, along with more drywall mud, latex primer and some door-stop trim that we need for the toilet off the master bath.

Before we left TimbrMart we could hear RuthAnn (Tom's the owner's wife and Dale Brooks daughter) -- on the phone saying that someone had just left but Dave Thompson was here -- turned out that Jimmy Mathews wanted some 5/8 cable clamps. I was going to put them on my bill but RuthAnn said that Jimmy said to put them on the Osprey Road Cottagers Association bill ??!! -- had she ever heard of this ?? -- no. Had I ever heard of this ?? -- no. Had I ever paid anything towards it ?? -- no. Oh well, I figured that I would find out soon enough.

We stopped at the General store for milk, frozen vegies, newspaper, diet pepsi ... and headed home. At the start of Osprey road a car that we had overtaken waved us past, and we continued down the road past our place to Jimmy's to drop off the cable clamps. Some explanations from Jimmy helped put the pieces together -- the Association was formed long ago to build the road -- that much I had guessed -- and there was still a balance in the account, something like $600 that Stan Woroz (sp?) maintained. Speak of the devil, here comes Stan and Cathy down the driveway that they share with Jimmy -- they are in the car that we passed on the road. We had never met them -- or more precisely -- we met them so long ago that we didn't know them -- so we all stood around and chatted for a while.

Back to the bank account -- so one of the things (perhaps the only thing) that the money is used for is to maintain the spring across the lake that my dad, among others, helped install. The spring is up the hill from the lake and my dad put in the original well at the spring and money in the account paid for pipe down to the lake and the dock that people park at to get water. Philip (my brother) and Dooley (our dog) have their names etched in the old concrete well-top. Anyway, the cables that anchor the dock in place had rusted out and Bob Simms was replacing them. A number of us have drilled wells now and don't use the spring -- and of course the spring is only good for the summer ... so anyone who uses their cottage during the winter needs another source of drinking water.

Do you like this kind of blow-by-blow account of the day ? -- it's amazing how many little stories can be intertwined on an otherwise dull day once you get a few people around. Stan used to be Lorraine's Principal -- Lorraine is a teacher in Brantford -- so you see the stories can go on and on ... there is no end to the branches that you can follow -- but I'll stop with this one.

Back home with our frozen food ... Jason et al have arrived -- he's going to take the unused pickets off my hands for his work on their loft (I'll keep enough to complete the stairs). He heads into town because he needs some 2x4's etc. for work that he wants to do this weekend and TimbrMart closes at 3pm on Saturday and of course will not be open again until Tuesday. Lorraine came over and visited with Sandy. Once Jason was back I showed him how to use the muffs to start his boat engine prior to putting it into the water because another of his projects for the day is to launch his boat.

What did I do between noon and 3pm ? -- oh yes, I finished off the drywall behind the darkroom sink, put primer on that area and installed the sink, faucets and drain. Hooray !

We went into town, again, for Mass at 4:30. I noticed that the usual Thompson crowd was in the front two rows missing Michael who has just flown back from Lisbon and my Uncle and Aunt -- but thought that with the rain they might have stayed behind because they need a boat to get to their landing to drive to church. Well, it was more complicated than that.

My Aunt had apparently had an irregular heartbeat (racing) since the night before and so she and my Uncle drove down to Newmarket to the hospital emergency. This is the hospital that Ann works at so the family uses that hospital. When Michael landed from Lisbon they called his cell and he went to the hospital to meet them. This was the evening that we were going to their cottage for dinner, so we all headed back to where they park their boat. Once at the cottage Ann called Michael and we got an update on her condition -- long story short the racing heartbeat had continued so they used the SOP -- standard operating procedure -- in these circumstances, gave her a shot with the paddles -- Yikes !! -- and she was as good as new. Ann, who is completely familiar with this process, is of course interrogating Michael -- which part of Emergency; who is doing the procedure -- but was unworried. Everything went well -- they are heading home to Scarborough for the night and then going back up to the cottage on Sunday, believe it or not -- Doctor says "ok".

My Aunt's prescription ? -- she is not to drink red wine or beer anymore ... Doctor thinks either might have triggered this -- is that what we have to look forward to ? I guess that as we get older we should stock cheaper wines in our wine cellar -- I'd hate to just stare at it -- perhaps I'll develop a taste for Scotch after all !!

So ... we had a great visit and dinner with Ann, Christine, Paul and their spouses, and Karen, Michael's wife. Many of the kids were there too and they had a three-way birthday party. I guess that they aggregate birthdays on these weekends ... and Michael's two -- Kelly and Shannon and one of Christine's were celebrating -- 18, 16 and 17. Vanilla cake, Key Lime pie and Cherry pie -- each to her own ... and lots of candles and presents. Karen and her girls will head back to Toronto on Sunday with Ann's car (they had expected Michael to be up there with the car). Shannon will fly off to Dublin with Michael Sunday night -- for a week -- and then he heads somewhere else. I am not envious of Michael's travel schedule -- mostly international it seems -- I had so much travel in North America that I had always delegated any international travel.

We got a ride back to our car around 9pm and, by the time we got home etc. it was almost 11pm -- late for me !!

While we were out Steve Pozgaj replied to my email and left a message on my cell phone, which I might get in August, and the message machine here. We'll get together eventually -- perhaps late July. Steve and I went to UofT together and have recently reestablished contact.

That's all folks. Too much detail you say ? Do you want to know what I put in my salad for lunch ? -- never mind !