Oct 26 - more visiting

Let's see ... what happened yesterday ... ?? oh yes --

I left around 6:30 for Sudbury to go to Mass. I stopped at Home Depot on the way, as usual, picking up my grommets and Canadian Tire on the way back, picking up some fishing supplies -- replacement anchor, minnow bucket, etc. and motorcycle oil.

Once home I changed the oil in the 3-wheeler and noticed an immediate improvement in running. The oil filter screen had been packed with sludge so it was probably not getting enough lubrication. I'll buy some more oil and change it again, just to ensure that the insides are cleaned out completely. I finished up putting grommets on the tarps as well.

When testing out the 3-wheeler I went to the end of the road and back, but stopped at Troup's because I saw Bob in the driveway. We chatted for a bit and then went down to the house to see his new pellet stove -- it is quite neat, taking about 1 bag of pellets per day, roughly $4, and can put out 50,000+ btu which is enough to cook their cottage. It doesn't cook the cottage though because it has a thermostat, igniter, internal and external fan etc. and runs like a little furnace. It can run for a day completely unattended, i.e. it's hopper holds a lot of pellets.

While there Lorraine invited us over for desert so we ate a little early (pike and bass ... very good) and went over there for 7:30 p.m. We walked and of course it started raining on the way -- pouring -- we had our raincoats on so didn't get wet other than Sandy's toes because she was wearing sandals (thinks that she's in Florida). We left around 9:15 having consumed some excellent cherry pie, some red and white wine, and a bottle of Lo -- the iced cider that we bought in Hemmingford. That's my last bottle so I should probably pick up some more when we're there.

The Lo was a hit -- even Lorraine and Jimmy had seconds -- and Lorraine does not like icewine (or sherry, I remember that from New Years). I figured that it would be different, and it was.

Today I'm off to the dentist for a checkup and the periodontist for a cleaning. I'll be leaving in about 1/2 hour as long as I can a) finish this up, and b) have a shower -- but you don't need all those details.

When we left Troup's we elected to walk again (Jim and Bonnie drove although they are practically next door) and the stars were big in the sky. To be fair though, with Bonnie's knee climbing their hill is not easy and getting there by walking along the shore in the dark, flashlight or not, is not a good idea.

It's clear again this morning -- perfect day for fishing but I'm afraid that I'll be on the road for dawn and dusk.

One more thing -- I finally updated 2008 and Recent on the website -- www.wdthompson.com -- moved the old Recent to 2008 and posted new pictures. There are some fall colour shots that turned out well -- you will notice that some of the pictures are "DSC" and some "NEG" -- being either digital from the D2X or film processed in the darkroom and then scanned. There are a couple of pictures at the end from the Blue Ridge ride that were emailed to me by Ken Mercurio.

That's it ...