May 25/26 - dog ate my blog

Well, I guess that my lack of a blog this morning shouldn't be blamed on Abby. After all, it's electronic and second of all, it's just not fair.

Yesterday was a painful day. Long and painful. I did my two favorite things -- dentist and plumbing.

I left here just after 4am, arriving at my 8:30 cleaning appointment at, well, 8:30. On the way I stopped at Home Depot on Dundas, found what I was looking for in duct-work (5"=>6" transitions, diffusers, 6" flexible ducting). One chore done. The stuff really adds up when you're buying five of everything.

My teeth seemed to have more tartar than usual and the girl that was doing the cleaning just didn't seem to believe that I flossed every day (in fact, I floss more than once a day). From her reaction I wasn't even sure that she believed that I brushed my teeth every day. I tried to explain my caloric intake but I don't think that she was getting it.

Next up -- off to Stef's. I unpacked the water softener -- they bought the same one that I installed here up north, and then de-installed and moved to Florida and installed there. I also sorted through the filter parts organizing the ones that I needed -- that too is the same as Florida. The filter comes with three complete sets of connectors -- copper sweat, PVC glue and pipe thread. I organized the filters (there's a pre-filter too), figured out what fittings I'd need and how much pipe and then headed off to my dentist appointment.

I'm having three crowns done. They're adjacent teeth that had fillings way, way back when that were replaced with porcelain inlays a few years ago that should have lasted my lifetime ... perhaps I've lived too long already ? Perhaps I should check out the warranty ? Anyway, there were issues around the margins of these fillings and they had to go. At that point, crowns were necessary.

I never have freezing. Drilling does not bother me. Doctor Weir had his son observing -- his son is in 1st year dentistry. Drill baby drill, and the fillings were gone and much of the exposed tooth structure. That was the easy part. It's been a long time since I've had a crown done. I had a couple of cracked teeth (popcorn perhaps ?) that needed crowning long ago. Back then I didn't know that not freezing was an option, so I had freezing. The easy part was over. I didn't know that there was a hard part coming ... yes ...

Next he needs to pack some material -- like thick dental floss, between the teeth and the gums, to spread the gums and do any necessary drilling below the gum line so that the base of the crown is not exposed. He has to work around each tooth, pushing this material in ... and it hurt like heck. Grinning and bearing it was not an option (cannot grin with a dental dam in place) ... so I just put up with it. Wow ... tears ran out of my eyes plus I was producing so much saliva that it was causing him problems packing this material. That was the extent of the moisture production. No, I didn't wet my pants.

After he worked his way around each tooth packing in this material he went back at it for a second round. Groan. I thought that this had been over with. Eventually it was over. That process had taken much longer than the drilling ... or so it seemed. Next up, impressions for the crowns -- he took two -- and an impression for the temporary. Notice that there is only one -- interesting setup, one large temporary that bridges to the adjoining teeth. It's much more solid than a typical temporary cap.

So ... that over with ... a little over two hours added to my earlier hour in the cleaning chair at the periodontist ... I headed to Home Depot again to pick up pipe. My plan was to use CPVC and expected to find the necessary pipe and fittings ... but no. They had some pipe and a handful of fittings, no elbows (I needed 12) and an "associate" with an attitude. I asked him about CPVC and he said that it just isn't in demand anymore that most people use PEX. I said that I was installing something on the main water supply and didn't want the flow restriction that PEX would produce. He said that I wouldn't notice it. Yes, I would notice it, sorry. I asked him whether Rona or Lowes would carry CPVC ... he said that he didn't know, he never shopped those places.

Well, I could have said -- know thy competition -- but didn't bother. I left that store in frustration. I went to the Rona by the dentist ... nothing there. I went to another Home Depot and found that they had some fittings ... 5 90 degree elbows, PVC for some parts, brass for others ... and bunches of 45 degree elbows. I made up what I needed in total using the 45 degree elbows. Somehow I'd make it work.

Well, as luck would have it, shopping for the plumbing turned out to be the hardest part. I got back to Stef's and started putting things together making a nice mess with the purple cleaner, but that always seems to happen with the primer -- pretty purple pipes. I was at the final stage and Aaron arrived home and helped me get the last piece in place.

We had dinner and then tested everything ... success ! Leakproof plumbing the first time. After I left, heading home, Aaron strapped the pipe, turned on the water softener ... the filter is in bypass mode, which is what you're supposed to do for three days letting the water percolate through the carbon. I talked to Aaron tonight and advised him to drain the hot water tank because there would be a lot of sludge at the bottom -- at least that's what I found in Florida -- and the softened water would simply attract those minerals and they wouldn't have soft hot water for some time.

I got home at 11:30 -- just what the NAV had predicted leaving Stef's. I made one stop, in Barrie, for coffee and a bagel. The bagel was stale. What do I expect ... bagels are made for breakfast.

I had talked to Sandy earlier in the day and she'd told me about a wild day up here. Wind, wind, wind -- huge waves coming from left to right, northeast wind. The waves were crashing on the beach ... and on Jason's dock. She'd gone over to see what Abby was barking about so Abby deserves credit here (as opposed to blame for eating my blog!).

The waves were causing the dock to squirm and heave so much that the cotter pins had been worn away and one hinge was completely apart. The hinge pin itself was only hanging by an end and she rescued that. The other side was going to give way too ... she called Jim Matthews -- no answer; she called Dennis Scott -- no answer; on an impulse she called Deloris Robinson and found Dennis. Deloris is the widow of Jack Robinson who passed away last winter on Vancouver Island and Dennis and Carl were over visiting or helping with something.

Dennis and Carl came over and put some heavy wire in the places for cotter pins, reattaching the hinge and doing the same with the other hinge. The dock was heaving so much that they had trouble landing their boat ... first time over they'd landed at our dock which is more protected.

Interestingly enough, the wind coming from that direction was not causing the tree-at-risk to move much.

So I got home late. I relaxed a bit, had a snack, went to bed. I was up a little after 6am -- late for me -- and that's my excuse for not doing my blog. I did put up the furnace diffusers before heading out for a bike ride. In the meantime, Sandy had left for Sudbury and a physio appointment. It was in the low 60's today, mostly cloudy, a little residual wind left over from yesterday coming from the east ... a nice day for a ride.

I got back from fishing a little while ago -- not even a bite today. I felt guilty about not blogging ... no, that's not true ... I was getting a snack and thought up this great title for a blog and wanted to start writing before I forgot it !

.........

OK, it's morning again and obviously I'm up and at 'em. It's pouring rain which will help prolong the black fly season, no doubt. It's relatively warm at 50F and the prediction for today -- morning, afternoon, evening, overnight is rain, rain, showers, rain -- seems pretty consistent to me other than the "showers" bit.

I'll finish up the games room today, the few remaining 3" wide tile pieces and, as much as possible, the main room. I've got to get some wood etc. to do the boxing-in of the duct work and beam. I'll see what I have up in the barn but may have to go into town for that, or may wait until my next trip to Sudbury. That leaves the bedroom to be started, oh yes, and the small area by the bathroom -- nope, can't do that until that beam is boxed in ... well, that leaves the bedroom ! There's also the darkroom but I'm not starting that until everything else has been completed.

We've got a lot of driving and biking coming up. Saturday to/from Alliston for the 300k ride. Sunday, Mass in Britt or Sudbury. Tuesday, to/from Toronto for my follow-up dentist appointment to install the caps. Friday, to Toronto for the weekend -- Saturday 400k in Alliston and Sunday, Kylie and Lauren Baptism; Sunday back home, Tuesday/Wednesday to Leesburg VA, Thursday Shenandoah 1200 start. After that ride we head to Florida for a few days and then back up here. Whew. I'd ask -- "are we crazy ?" -- but that implies that Sandy had a part in cooking up this nonsense ! No, she's just going along "for the ride" and there's plenty of that !

Ok ... enough of this ...