Jul 3 - a melange

All over the place yesterday ...

I made bars / squares of my own design, using a granola bar recipe as a guide to proportions.  They've got much the same content as my bread, i.e. sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds and chia seeds.  They also have rolled oats and dates, brown sugar, honey, salt, vanilla ...

They turned out quite good.  I might up the amount of honey next time or bake for a little less time, to make them a little more pliable.

While I was in the kitchen, I also made my olive tapenade and hummus, so I'm well stocked for "cheese and crackers".  Speaking of which, Emma's snack yesterday was sans crackers, not sure why.  She also opted for French Toast, moving away from my waffles that she'd had two days in a row.

Emma and I went for a boat ride to the Narrows and back but not before I futzed around getting the motor to start.  The battery was flat dead -- perhaps I'd left the depth finder on ?  Not sure.  Anyway, it was taking a charge and I used the Yellow-Top Optima battery to get it started.  That too wasn't easy because by then I'd flooded it, could smell the gas.

I suppose that the main even was the ramp.  I went into town and looked at patio stones and he didn't have enough of the 12x24 in stock for my work and it would be a week or two before they got here.  So ... I decided to go for it and hauled the cement mixer up to the top of that little slope and then laid out some 2x6's as forms.  I'm now ready to pour concrete but haven't decided whether I'll insert some cross pieces as expansion joints or put in some wire reinforcing mesh.  It's not that I need the structural strength but that would stop it from cracking/splitting.

It's going to look like a concrete ramp but will be secure underfoot and won't rot away in my lifetime :).

The telephone rang at 2:30 a.m. and it was someone calling for Jeffrey -- a work "emergency".  I remember the days when work seemed like it could have emergencies but now life is far, far more important.

Sandy went for a walk over to see Bonnie with Zoe in the wagon and Emma in tow, so to speak.  I think that Abby went along as well but she wasn't the main attraction for Bonnie. Did I mention that Pam and her boys came up the prior day ?  Sandy and I brought the kayaks over to them.

It was flat calm most of yesterday, a beautiful summer day.  Sandy and Emma went out in the kayaks.  Emma is quite accomplished, good at going, stopping, turning, going backwards.  She isn't that strong, of course, but knows all the moves.

I lined up Paul Lamb to do work on my driveway.  It's going to cost about double what I had expected.   I told him that I want it done before I head off on the 21st.

Speaking of the 21st, I'm also going to get firewood delivered.  At this point I don't need same, but dry wood is a good thing.  I'd told Halle late in the summer but realized that I'd rather have it here and not be running out of time.  I'll have him dump it on the opposite side of the driveway.  Four cords ... hmmm.

Speaking of firewood, I need to drop that hemlock before it falls on its own in an awkward place.  I'll check with Jim next week and perhaps he can help me.  At this point I simply want to drop and cut into split-able pieces.  Splitting can come later but that too will be a rush after LEL and then of course there's the piling ... sheesh.

Stef says that she's 80% through packing.  I hope that she doesn't find, as with these kinds of things, that the remaining 20% takes 80% of the time !  Usually the rule is 90/10.  The easy stuff, the bulk, goes quickly.  Their time is running out, however, since closing/moving day is Monday !  Yikes !  All I can say is that I'm glad that it's her, not me !! :).

More ?  Not sure.  Jeffrey and gang go into Science North today.  It's July 4th and he has today and tomorrow off, so no more full days working.  Their plan is to head to Barrie Saturday a.m., stay overnight (I think) and then to Reading Sunday a.m.  We will head to Oakville early Monday a.m., pick up the girls and Stef's VW and go to Barrie.  We'll hang around there for the day and be back home that night.  Perhaps Abby can go for a swim in Stef's pool ... be the first in the family ?  Ha !

Today -- I'll go for a bike ride.

Onward !