Apr 16/17 - offline

I don't remember the last time that I was offline for 24 hours, let alone 36 !

I left David's shortly after 9am, cruising by the church where the funeral was going to be held, shortly after 10.  Almost an hour early, I drove on and found somewhere to fill up the gas tank and have a coffee and bagel.  Everyone serves bagels here; in NSB I'd only be able to get a donut or other sweet, sugary bun.    Back at the church, people were gathering outside and I met up with my Tomenson and Thompson cousins, chatting idly.  

Scott, Mary, Sarah and Bianca were there, only Miranda couldn't make it from that family.  They aren't talking to Tracy or Bobbie, so the two groups of Tomenson's sat on opposite sides of the church.  I wonder if that will ever resolve itself in this generation ?  As it happened, the Abbot's were with Tracy et al, and I sat with them in the church.  I figured that I should sit with family.

Michael's cousins were there -- Thelma's girls -- and I said hello, not having seen them since one of the weddings -- Paul's, probably.  The rest were all friends ... lots of friends ... not very many Aunt Ruth's age, more the next generation.  

Tears were few, repressed.  My uncle had lived a full life, a good provider, father and grandfather.  He will be missed but while his passing was quick, it wasn't sudden.  While the family had roles in the service for the Mass readings, only the priest spoke of Uncle Phil.  Coached, obviously, he did a good job.

Afterwards we went to Michael's, less than 2kms away (this is Canada, remember, not miles ?).  We were there shortly after noon and I stayed until the group had quite thinned out, a little after 2pm.  By that point it was getting down to the Phil Thompson family.  I changed my clothes and headed north.

I did stop in Barrie, but at Costco.  Kim had bought a neat weather forecaster etc. so I was looking for that.  No luck.  Three days earlier it had been one of those specials at the entrance; now it was gone.  That's Costco for you.

Heading on, my next stop was Parry Sound.  The main reason for that stop was to check email, in particular to see if I'd heard from my cousin Sue.  She had replied; I'll be visiting her and Flory in the Buffalo area on Wednesday before catching my flight.  Assuming all goes well, we'll have lunch.  My flight isn't until 4:10 p.m. so that should give us lots of time.

I had a cappuccino at Starbucks, utilized their wireless hotspot, visited Sobey's for a couple of veggies for dinner and then headed onwards.  I called Bonnie on the way and stopped at their place before going home.  I knew that once I was home time would slip by.  They gave me the mail from the last few months ... a large bag :).

Everything was ship-shape at home, other than some large rocks "growing" out of the driveway.  Frost does amazing things.  Clearing two of those was my first project on Tuesday.  I had to run a slalom course on the way down the driveway ... sort of.

As expected, it was warmer outside than in.  I turned up the furnace and got the fire going, checked out my property and Jason's, had dinner and watched TV.  All was well. Jason had a couple of branches in his driveway and the yard, but nothing else. The weather was amazing yesterday -- if was almost Parry Sound before the temperature started heading down from 78F.  The next morning, however, as predicted, it was below freezing and we had snow flurries.  

I had a busy half-day on Wednesday before running out of projects that I was prepared to start and finish.  The rocks were one thing, of course, it's nice having the driveway passable.  I hemmed and hawed to myself about tending to the gazebo and then decided to go ahead.  Amidst those snow flurries but without any wind, I took down the Christmas lights on the gazebo and unwrapped the tarp.  It's now ready to go for bug season, although there are some screens that need replacing.  

That done, and the dock of necessity having been moved to do the work on the gazebo, I did the next project -- getting the dock in place.  I wasn't sure that I wanted to leave it exposed to the wind and the waves for the next month when we're not here but oh well ... it's dealt with that before.  Although the water was low, it could always go lower, so I might as well get that over with.

As always, with the water low, it's tough getting the dock up on the concrete ledge at the shore.  I ended up using the winch on the 4-wheeler, with the ATC trailer hitch tied to a tree, to put forward pressure on the dock.  I then used Dad's large jack to lift the end of the dock and pried up at the other end and the winch tension pulled the dock onto the ledge.  It sounds simple, but I'd fiddled with pry bars etc. for the better part of an hour before tackling it this way.  It seems that's the best solution but every year is different. 

The small dock has suffered this winter.  I don't know whether it's simply the location, although it's not much deeper where I left it this year, but the ice did damage to it.  I'll have to check it out at some point and decide whether it's worthwhile doing some repair work or simply letting time take its toll and replacing it in a couple of years.  Of course it weighs a ton now, so doing any repairs would be problematic.

I finished the book that I'd started on the flight and watched some TV. I had a snooze.  

It's sunny out now at 4:45 p.m., no wind, temperature 45F, house warm ... time to head south !  I'm supposed to go over to Jim & Bonnie's in a bit, once they're back from their errands in Parry Sound and Britt.  I've gone through the mail, restocked the inside woodbox, and basically packed to leave.  My plan is to leave at 6am and I'll again stop at Starbucks and post this blog; check for any other email, etc etc.

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At Starbucks now ... I had a good visit with Jim and Bonnie, there's always a lot to chat about.

... onward we go.