Aug 29 - The summer that never was

It's hard to believe that I'm cleaning up from the summer, getting ready for fall. We never had summer this year, or, to look at it another way, it came on a few isolated days.

So ... I filled the inside woodbox. I expect that within the next 24-48 hours we'll have our first fire of the season. I did some garage cleanup -- hung up Stef's mountain bike, hung up the ladder, did some other cleanup -- eventually I need to make space for Sandy's car. I have other outside chores to do as well, deflating the ski tube & inflatable boat and putting away other summer toys. I have to decide whether to leave the Bayliner in the boathouse when we go to Florida in September or whether I should pull it out of the water, put it into the barn, putting the Whaler in the boathouse.

I cleaned up behind the reconstructed woodbox, putting away the old 2x6's and plywood in the woodpile, cleaning up the shingling scraps. Then I was interrupted by a thunderstorm ... pouring rain ... the last bolt of lightning was followed by thunder less than 1 second later. That means that it's close. I don't have internet service right now -- satellite reception has gone -- so I'm typing into Notepad for later copy/paste into my blog.

Sandy started doing a wash and then turned off the washer. She doesn't want any appliances fried due to power surges.

It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow and then be nice for the week, gradually warming into the 70's. That will be nice to have. Perhaps we'll get the boat out and take a trip to Lost Channel for dinner or even into Loring for lunch. Oh -- that lightning bolt took 3 seconds for the thunder -- moving away from us, hopefully -- but still pouring. When there's a break in the action I'll do some more outside cleanup. I have a couple of minor inside projects that I could attend to ... we'll see.

I am feeling a lot better today than I was at this time yesterday. That means that this cold is on the wane. That also means that Sandy will likely come down with it shortly. That could mess up her plans to go to Toronto Thursday for a colour/cut -- not pleasant if you're sniffling and not fair to Al, her stylist. Speaking of Al, apparently he and his wife may visit here on their way to Sudbury right after Labour Day. I've never met him ... only chosen bottles of wine from the wine cellar as Christmas gifts !

Stef and Aaron got away a little after 8am. It looks like most of this rain is here up north and they should drive out of it, otherwise they would have a long drive. Traffic shouldn't be too bad ... oh ... six seconds that time ... still moving away ... oh ... the UPS clicked, that means that it took over during a power surge or drop ... I hope that I don't have to go and turn the generator on during the pouring rain. Well, at least it's not dark out !

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A little after noon, we just heard from Stef that they had a safe journey. The rain has stopped for now and I made a tour outside -- ours, Jason's and Donnie's to see if everything was ok -- yes. It's been quite windy -- still is -- and trees were weakened by the recent storm so it's worth checking.

I started a fire a while ago, more symbolic than necessary, although the inside temperature had dropped to 70F. It's cool outside so it won't get warmer although the sky is getting brighter as I sit here. I'm going to go downstairs and do some bike maintenance. Aaron says that my hub needs oiling -- the pawls are clicking too loudly -- so I'll do my duty, rather than be stuck by the side of the road.

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Bike maintenance done, ready to go into town for Mass, I called Bonnie and yes, she does want a newspaper. Last Saturday I didn't have a chance to phone her before leaving and it was just as well since there was only one paper left when I got there even though I always go before, not after, Mass.

Later ...

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It looks like everyone was getting some driveway work done, save me. Simms, Robinsons, Wroszs, Matthews ... everyone has had a couple of loads of gravel. Perhaps I should have joined into the fray, but I'll save that for next year. I arrived at Matthews just as they were leaving, giving Jim the newspaper with him saying something like he'd just had two loads of gravel laid and it was packed yet, hoping to catch me ... I think that he was worried that I was going to chew it up. I drove slowly and carefully back up the driveway. Four wheel drive with a heavy car and wide tires should be good for driveway packing, right ?

Speaking of heavy cars, I've been giving some thought as to our next vehicle. Sandy's 330xi and the M5 will be with us a while, but the X5 is quickly using up its life span. One of the potential vehicles, along with, of course, a Ford F150, might be the Land Rover LR3 except that it's now the LR4. I was reading a review of it in the Wheels section of the Saturday Toronto Star and it looks pretty good. It has an updated drivetrain for 2010. 2011 would be a good time to get one slightly used. I need to keep the X5 going for another year or so, which includes our planned trip out west this winter.

As for the F150 ... I'm not sure that I'm ready for a truck, although it might be a less expensive option. Back and forth to Florida in a truck is not my idea of a good time. Whether we actually buy a boat for Florida or not, and the size of said boat, would determine our need for a truck in Florida vs a car. The amount of time that we spend up north during the winter (like any time at all) determines whether or not we need something with truck-like clearance (X5 has it) for snow. How much stuff will we haul back and forth ... No ... I don't want two trucks. Beam me up Scotty ?

We did some planning for our trip at Chrismas, roughly mapping out the dates. We'd visit with Jeffrey and Stef on the way north from Florida to the cottage. We would leave here before Christmas, stopping in Thunder Bay (Philip), Winnipeg or somewhere slightly west of that, and Edmonton, arriving in Edmonton on the 22nd or 23rd. We'd stay in Edmonton until the 27th, perhaps, then ski for a couple/three days at Jasper. From Jasper we'd head to Revelstoke ... ski there for a week and then perhaps a couple of days at Panorama or some other resort in the BC interior, then head back to Saskatoon to visit with Sandy's friend. From there we'd head back to the cottage, spend 3-4 days here and then off to Florida again.

This rough plan would get us back to Florida something like January 24th, having left around December 11th. We normally ski for 9-10 days so this would extend our skiing by a couple of days, assuming that everyone has good snow of course. Of course we're looking for good snow on the hills ... and not on the roads ...

I looked at options like driving "directly" from BC to Florida but a) it's not much shorter and b) it would really extend the trip due to all the places that we would want to visit. We're better off leaving that for a sightseeing-only trip for another year, and not in the winter. We're also better off doing that with a rented RV rather than relying on dog friendly motels. Speaking of which, we have found a place at Revelstoke for "well behaved" pooches. Abby is quite well behaved, thank you very much. Sandy is now going to look for other accommodation along the way to further develop the plan.

I might consider, if we bring the boat to Florida in November, bringing the snow tires down with us. That way we would put them on for the trip north, then west, then east, then back south. If we don't bring the boat ... which means that we found a boat for Florida in September ... then we'll have to carefully plan our trips north and south to avoid snowstorms.

Rambling, rambling. It's light out now and wet. I don't see rain hitting the deck, but it's wet. I'll check the Doppler shortly to see what's in the area. If it looks like it will be dry for a short while, I'll go fishing. If it looks like it will be dry for the day ... but that's unlikely ... I'll go for a bike ride. I'm not counting on the latter though -- tomorrow and the rest of the week it's supposed to be sunny and dry. Depending on the weather forecast for the weekend I may do a bike ride in Toronto on Sunday. The route is called "Mean Streets" and winds in and around Toronto through familiar neighbourhoods. It would be interesting on a nice day, not so interesting on a rainy day. The New York City ride is a definite on September 13th ... the Toronto ride is an "if reasonable weather" plan.

It's still relatively warm in here -- 71F -- so I did not put a fire on this morning. That may come later. Yesterday I mostly burned hemlock that I cut last fall. It seems dry, burns well, and being softer than most of the wood in our woodshed, is a good option for the shoulder seasons of Spring and Fall.

I'm going to stop typing ... now !