Oct 25 - season shut-down

Another season is over, or at least it seems that way when Jason & Lorraine close up. With a rainy day yesterday they decided to go home a day early. Sitting inside waiting to leave didn't make a lot of sense. We'll be shutting down "for the season" shortly too -- but we'll only be gone for a month.

Jason is still mulling over projects for next year -- building an addition or reconstructing some of their deck; building a garage and/or a boat ramp. There is no end to the list of potential projects. I've got a list too -- re-shingle the garage, landscaping, the basement ceiling ... and other things that don't spring to mind right now. Of course there is always fishing ! Now that I'm into it I will likely continue although not at the same frenzied level !

Speaking of fishing, since there was a clear spell, I decided to go fishing yesterday morning for an hour. I guess that the fish go inside for the rain too because it was dead. Just for variety I sat for 1/2 hour at my usual spot by Grumblenot island and then 1/2 hour by Caribou Creek. One spot was as good (or bad) as another yesterday -- drizzle, rain, no action. With my rain suit on the rain didn't matter although I could see that a small Bimini on the Whaler would make sense if I did much sitting in the rain. It was raining late in the day so I didn't bother going out again.

I called the church in Britt several times yesterday to confirm the time of Mass but got no answer. Having gone there a couple of times before and found the time of Mass changed, I didn't want to make that trip without some assurance. I am planning on going into Sudbury this morning -- my usual 6:30 leave, 8:00 at Home Depot, 9:00 at Mass, 10:00 at Costco, 12:00 back home. I also want to go to Canadian Tire today and pick up some motorcycle oil to change the oil in the ATC's -- or at least the 3-wheeler. It's not been changed in a couple of years and is overdue. I should really change the oil in the two lawn-mowers and the generator too -- but I'll probably wait for spring. I don't think that I could even get at the generator until I use some of the wood in the wood shed.

Speaking of the ATC's, I changed the spark plugs in both of them. The 3-wheeler is very easy with the correct wrench. The 4-wheeler is something else -- very difficult to get at, you must remove some parts etc. It is a much more sophisticated machine -- eg. fan cooled, electronic monitoring of oil changes, oil pump and filter vs splash pan, electric shift vs kick shift, differential vs chain drive etc. etc. Both of them, however, need motorcycle oil instead of regular automotive oil, based on my reading. Apparently automotive oil has extra non-friction additives that would cause the automatic clutch to start slipping. Of course, as with anything else, there is much debate about this online, but for the extra couple of dollars I will buy motorcycle oil. It's probably cheaper than the 5w30 that I buy for the BMW's anyway !

I watched another couple of episodes of Stargate Atlantis yesterday and for the first time encountered one that I'd seen partly on broadcast TV. I'm now 2/3 through season 2 ... I only have 4 seasons in total on DVD since season 5 is current. It's not quite as interesting as SG1 but it is growing on me.

I can't think of anything else. I've already had breakfast since I'll be leaving in 45 minutes for Sudbury. It's raining out -- again. I'll do my ATC oil change thing today after lunch. I'll go fishing this evening if it's not raining. Tomorrow I head for Alex's in Barrie and two dentist appointments.

Oh -- there is one more thing -- I sent an email to Bill Nelson to kickstart (I'm on a motorcycle thought train right now) plans for their visit this year. Bill called me later in the day and we've settled on the week of U.S. Thanksgiving -- Saturday to Saturday. That timing will work well because we will have been down there for a week, giving us a chance to get organized, and still leaves time before we leave again !