May 14 - blowing in the wind

"The answer my friend, is blowin' in the wind" ... no, not like the song -- yesterday everything was blowing in the wind -- branches, waves, dust and dirt, rain -- like crazy.

Bev and Bruce left a little after 8am. We'd gotten rain much of the night, on and off, with some thunder but in the early morning the wind started picking up. Before they left, I went over to Jason's to check on a pine tree of his at the shoreline that had almost ripped its roots out during one of the windstorms last winter. Sure enough, the roots were heaving up and down in the gusts. I was worried that it was going to go down. He and I talked about securing it with a cable ... I just wanted to ensure that he had a chance to do so before it went down !

I got my ladder and a rope, tying the rope as high up the tree as I had the nerve to climb the ladder, which wasn't that high due to the constant heaving of the roots and swaying of the tree. I told Jason that I was "tree hugging". I have a chain come-along which I then tied to the base of another tree but found that the angle was wrong and it wasn't making any difference with the wind -- tree still swaying and roots still heaving. I settled on a birch that was at the correct angle and the extra support seemed to settle things down. The wind continued to increase over the course of the day culminating in a wild boat ride ... but I'll get to that later.

Checking the Doppler, it looked like the rain was about finished, so we headed into Sudbury pulling the Whaler trailer. This was around noon. Twice before we got to highway 69 the trailer tongue jumped off the ball, immediately making a squealing sound as the spare tire on its support landed on the road, not rotating of course. Completely unweighted, the trailer was jumping into the air on some of the frost heaves. It still should not leave the ball -- I'll have to check that later. There may be a clasp in the tongue that can be tightened. It was no problem on highway 69 or coming back with weight on the trailer. There was still no weight on the tongue, because I could pick that up with one hand, but with something on the trailer the springs absorbed some of the bounce rather than the entire trailer leaving the road. This was not at high speed either ... thank heavens for safety chains.

We went to Home Depot first, and the rain was dumping down. By the time we got out with suspended ceiling T's, crosses, wall pieces, a couple of boxes of ceiling tiles, etc. the rain had stopped and the sun was out. We had a heck of a time bundling this stuff in a tarp on the trailer though. The wind, which according to the weatherman was gusting to close to 50kph, was blowing the tarp, dust and dirt etc. and I tried to get this done. At one point I said to Sandy -- "another couple of minutes of this and I'm going back inside for a refund" ... but we eventually managed. With bungees and rope, the bundle was secure so that the enclosing tarp would not blow nor would the bundle (Sandy called it a mummy) move on the tarp. The only issue was that it was still balanced over the wheels, with no weight on the tongue, but that's where the supports were for the load so I didn't have much choice. If I have to do this again, I'll first tie lateral supports onto the trailer so that I can load things further frontwards.

After HD we went to Barrydowne Paint -- Sandy is still trying to determine which stain she wants to put on the deck -- and after that over to Future Shop, aka Best Buy.

At FS we bought a 32" LCD TV and another Starchoice receiver to put in the basement. At the last moment I was hesitating to spend the money, but we'd planned this and went ahead. Originally I was planning on putting the LCD into my den, with the older TV going downstairs, but it made more sense to do it this way because the thinner TV would fit nicely on the 12" deep IKEA shelves. I'll hook it up in the next while, ensure that everything is working in case we need to return it for whatever reason. When we got to the cash, they were having a special of which I was unaware -- the Starchoice receiver was half price with the purchase of a TV -- great deal, saved $100. I had debated (with myself) whether to purchase the cheaper receiver but went ahead with the HD receiver -- good thing, because with the special they were both the same price anyway !

We got home about 5pm and I worked quickly to get the suspended ceiling stuff off the trailer into the garage. I'll move it down to the house this morning since it's cool now and the black flies will be in hiding. The trailer is still attached to the car but that doesn't take long to unhook and move. The whaler trailer is light enough that I can move it around by hand (sort of accounts for it bouncing on the frost heaves, right ?).

Next I wanted to go down the lake to check my minnow traps ... so Abby and I set off. The wind was with us and so were the waves. I had no idea that the waves were as big as they were until I got out there. Often, with a strong wind, we might get whitecaps out front. We had rollers yesterday, well spread and the Whaler was hard to manage as it heaved up and down. When I got to Smith's Bay, it was really blowing and the cross waves were much higher than the boat, causing even more maneuvering difficulty. I knew that we were in for it on the return trip !

The wind was blowing straight down Caribou and when I got to the minnow traps, which of course are in the shallows, I had a hard time pulling them in and stopping the boat from hitting the rocks at the creek mouth. This was a situation that definitely called for two people in the boat. Abby was no help ! Eventually, after a couple of tries, I got the boat positioned so that I could grab the two floats and strings with a paddle and then reverse to hold myself in place and pull up the traps. Four minnows -- what a waste of time.

We headed back. It was a very slow trip across the mouth of Smith's Bay. The waves were so high and the wind was so strong, that a couple of times I felt the boat actually hesitate in the wind, the bow having caught the wind ... I was truly worried that the wind might flip us. We needed some weight in the front, but of course Abby was at the back with me -- no way was she going to sit up front and bounce in a six foot arc ! Of course with weight in the front I'd have gotten soaked, so it was a mixed blessing. We made it to the point and hugged the shoreline coming back home. Whew. There's one thing about the Whaler -- it's unsinkable, so no worries on that score -- but cold and wet is no fun.

Everything went on the barbie for dinner -- chicken breasts, asparagus and potatoes. I hit the sack even earlier than usual, catching up on some missed sleep.

Today ... it's cold. The internet says 1C ... and that agrees with the indoor/outdoor thermometer. Right now the sky is light, pre-dawn, the lake glassy calm reflecting the opposite shore, mist hanging over the water... It's supposed to get up to 16C and sunny, with light winds ... yes, I'm going for a bike ride. This is the warmest that it's going to be for a few days.

Sandy is going back to Sudbury for a physio appointment and to grocery shop. I commented to Bev and Bruce that eating is expensive here -- first of all food is more expensive, second of all we spend a lot on gas to get said food. We also get more spoilage here. Sandy is very good at planning menus but if people's travel plans change we can get left with perishables that perish. It doesn't happen too often, since I'm a human garbage can when it comes to eating, but it does happen.

Jason et al are supposed to arrive tonight. Last weekend Jason said that Mike and Jill might be coming up on Thursday night, but I have not been outside, don't know if they actually arrived. I'll have breakfast ... and so will Abby ... shortly, and then I'll bring down the stuff from the garage. If Mike came up last night I'll see the car in the driveway.

Bonnie and Jim head to Orillia after lunch for Bonnie's MRI appointment for her knee. This being Victoria Day Weekend, it's a tough day to travel, but in Ontario you don't say no to a prospective MRI appointment. She's been waiting quite a while for this.

Speaking of travels, I hope that Bev and Bruce made it ok yesterday. The line of thunderstorms went all the way down to Arkansas ... I guess we won't know until they get home and send us an email. If all goes according to plan, they'll get home tonight.

Next up ... next visitors ... we're not sure. The only confirmed visitors so far are Arlene's gang just before the first weekend in August. No one else has confirmed plans for that weekend nor have we heard from Stef about any plans to come up before then. Kylie had indicated that she wanted to spend the summer here, but again, no definite plans have been made.

That's it ... the clock has chimed 6am, Abby must be hungry !