Jan 14 - the delinquent blogger

Prompted by David's nagging email, I'm writing this blog ... I'm actually feeling guilty now ! If I don't post soon I'll hear from others.

So ... yesterday went rather quickly. That's day one of three here at the cottage.

-- get ice fishing going (nothing by end of day and minnows still on lines as of this morning)
-- take ski box and racks off car roof
-- go down to Jim & Bonnie's with 4-wheeler, visit a little, bring back CD's that Jim wants copied (his own stuff from steel guitar)
-- go into town, pickup fishing license (yes, perhaps I should change the order of these), mail and some grocery items
-- walk down to Jim's with Sandy and Abby bringing beer (this around 2pm) ... we were there until 5:30; Troups came over as well ... ok, it was 5pm somewhere
-- back home for supper ... pike caught in November done on the barbie ... excellent ... + potatoes and peas
-- and that was it for the day

Timbr Mart has been bought by Home Hardware -- actually same guy still owns it, but the brand has changed. Jim figures that will cause problems for Buchanan's Pro Hardware in the fullness of time because HH has better selection and more buying power. I almost stopped in to say hello but did not.

This morning I called Hydro One about my exorbitant electricity bill since they'd overestimated my usage by a ton -- the meter is still way below their Dec 4th estimate. They told me that we would soon (didn't define soon though) be switched to no-estimate billing since we now have smart meters. It's interesting that we have one, Jason has one, Jim has one ... but not Troups. Go figure. How long is it going to take them to go down the river and install meters at all the boat-accessible locations ? Will I live that long ? Anyway, I didn't bother trying to adjust the bill since it will work itself out at some point. Naturally they don't accrue interest if we are overpaid :).

I went out on the lake with the 4-wheeler today. I'd done so yesterday too, but only right by the shore. It took a few tries to get back up the hill so at this point I've left it out front and will take it up later because I'll likely go out again. I should probably get out with the 3-wheeler because it does better on the ice and in the snow since it's so light-weight.

I won't change my tires until tomorrow ... and we'll be leaving Sunday morning and I'll stop in either Britt or Parry Sound to attend Mass. We haven't decided where to spend the night on Monday yet, could be our usual Beckley WV or perhaps a little further.

What else ... it's still warm out, over freezing, but supposed to cool down and get sunny later. With the warm temperatures, the freezing drizzle didn't freeze.

I don't have any other chores to do here ... I'd clean fish if I caught any ...

We are planning on going to Jakes tomorrow night for dinner with the Troups and Matthews. That should be fun. We haven't eaten there for quite some time.

Well, I have to get busy and stare out the window at my fishing rigs ... like watched pots, they'll boil at some point but perhaps not this year ...

Onward !