Oct 17 - working in the rain

It rained all day. It rained harder when I was cooking dinner. Today, however, I see some clear patches among the dark clouds ... who knows !

Alex left around 8am, taking the Grandma plant to David at the Cadet Cleaners. It was a pretty tame hunt, all things considered. We must be getting older. Each day we had three beer over the course of the afternoon and then a glass of wine at dinner. That's a far cry from "olden days" with "special coffee" at breakfast then beer all day until we ran out of steam. Neither of us are big drinkers, so beer all day probably only translated into a couple more beer.

We did, however, see a record amount of rain. I can't remember days where it rained all or most of the day. We used to play a lot of cards, now it's pool and movies. I run out of steam with pool after a while because I'm competitive and crappy at pool. My hand/eye coordination just doesn't work there. We would also walk the bush for partridge, but with the rain that wouldn't have been much fun this past few days. My bird gun -- pellet gun with sights -- will go back to FL unfired. Pretty tame. No target practice, no skeet shooting ... two old men out hunting :).

Moose season started yesterday. I didn't hear any shots while I was outside. It wouldn't have been any fun in the bush in the rain. I don't envy them a bit. It's a short season -- started yesterday and ends Saturday. Then there are two weeks "off" and deer season starts, that one running from the first Monday in November to the Saturday two weeks later. This is as late as deer hunting can get, because the first Monday is the 7th, so they may be hunting in snow.

Yesterday was a busy day for me, rain or not. I had to get the gazebo wrap in place, two tarps front to mid-way both sides and then back to side, slightly overlapping. Once up, then the Christmas lights need to be hung on the same hooks. It went faster this year, perhaps because I didn't have to spend any time fiddling with the docks. It's so shallow that I just worked with the ladder standing in the water.

After doing my thing with the gazebo, which took all morning, I got the dock set for the winter, wrapping a chain around the rock outcrop and attaching a rope to the end; similarly a rope from the other side to the shore and then the end of the dock that is facing the beach, tied to a tree. It will be ok.

I also pulled up the Whaler, emptying the decoys and a variety of other stuff but leaving a full cleaning until the Spring. I don't know if it's clean-able, with all the pine gum that dripped on it this year. At least it will be hard in the Spring. My gun case is covered with pine sap.

What else ... some more organizing in the barn; attached the hitch-rack and loaded the bins on same but they aren't tied down yet; setup the heater cables, finding to my chagrin that the gutter heater has died, again. I bought a new one last year. It's too late to replace for this year ... grrrr. It's an expensive item and had I checked it a month ago, could have replaced it on warranty. Grrrr. All I can do is hope that the ice doesn't do any damage. Perhaps I'll turn the heat down lower -- 45F instead of 50F ... perhaps every bit helps ... perhaps.

I put away the guns, prepped for travel; got the battery out of the Bayliner, will do the same with the Whaler today; did some more computer organizing and did more this a.m.; some cleanup in my work-room in the basement; ... more but I don't remember.

Today's the day -- need to finish packing because we're leaving before 9am tomorrow. I need to make a trip into town for mail-in and mail-out. I'll prep Sandy's car for storage at that point.

Oh yes, I did do some clothes packing yesterday -- bike stuff -- and also did some washing. Biking will be back "in season" next week when I'm back in Florida.

Onward ...