May 23 - hope that's it

With the rain in the forecast, on the Doppler and coming down from the sky (that makes it a certainty !), I decided to go to Parry Sound, following Sandy on her way to Toronto.  Following is a relative term here, she was probably 15-30 minutes ahead of me. 

I hit the LCBO to pick up some Opimian wine, the market for lettuce and avocados, the little Home Depot for some rope and a couple of items and Canadian Tire for gloves, brake fluid, another bug jacket and CO2 cartridges.

Back home by 1pm, it was time for a late (for me) lunch.

I brought some more wood into the house, following my strategy of leaving the wood in the woodbox for the Fall and Winter (will we be here in the Fall ?  no !), and puttered around the house.  With a somewhat break in the rain, I took Abby for a walk, going over to the Matthews with my wattage meter so that I could tell Jim whether his heater cable was actually working.  It was, sort of, although drawing fewer watts than I'd expect, but not zero.

Sandy called late in the day to talk about what she was finding regarding washer/dryer combinations.  Having someone who will deliver is the main criteria at this point.  We could pick up the two but once here, not bring them down.  Yes, I could wait for Jason's gang to be here, but that's not really a workable solution.  Besides, with my travel schedule this summer, taking a day to drive to/from Toronto and pickup these things isn't really in the cards either.  I might re-think that, but that's where we are right now.

Speaking of which, I added up the days that I'd either be away or at least traveling and came to 45.  That's 45 days out of 92, counting June, July and August.

Also late in the afternoon, Lisa sent a picture of the Florida house asking "is someone staying there" since there were cars in the driveway.  Nope, just the neighbors.  I called Judy to confirm and yes.  Gordon and (forget spouse's name) were going to be visiting for dinner.  Gordon is disabled so that was going to make things easier.  That was a funny call, almost seemed as if I had a camera monitor going at the house.  If I had such a thing I'd stare at it too much :).

The wind stayed with us all day yesterday, blowing strongly left-to-right.  I could hear some rattles through the night, the kitchen hood vent making a noise.  The temperature is showing right at the freezing point this morning, 32F on the internet; 35F at my thermometer, moderated by the lake water.

The water is way up, my dock floating free.  Waves are splashing into the boathouse and splashing at the breakwater at the beach.  I suspect that once it's light all the beach has disappeared with the high water.  I checked Jason's dock as well and you don't have to walk down any ramp at this point, the dock is about level at the hinges. 

Today I have to get ready for the bike rides on the weekend, copying files to the Garmin, printing cue sheets, making up the brevet cards and packing.  I've decided to not go to Stef's home inspection taking place this afternoon, not really comfortable with that.  This is their third house and neither Aaron nor the home inspector need another set of eyes or a second opinion.  I'd love to see the house and certainly will soon, assuming that everything goes well, which it likely will.

At this point, I think that I'll be going to Barrie/Alliston early tomorrow morning for the bike ride which starts at 8am.  I have to get hold of Arthur to ensure that if anything happens to me on the way down (car troubles, not something darker), he'll be able to kick off the ride.  If he cannot, I'll try Liz, another rider.  Failing to get hold of either of them, I have to ensure that I'm there for everyone and will drive down after an early dinner.

Onward ....