Dec 30 - one day left

It was a cold one.  The girls did go outside for a while but that didn't last long.  David went out on the ATC as well and we tried in vain, over and over again, to start the 3-wheeler but no luck there.  It will await Spring at this point.

Lauren made waffles for everyone ... well, I helped her but she did a lot of it.  Her new waffle maker works very well !  The first batch of batter was from a recipe that I use, rather than use her "good" waffle mix to do the first couple of waffles, since they get thrown away.  The ceramic non-stick surface is quite good and the unit stayed clean.

I went over to Jim & Bonnie's at 10, as they'd asked.  I had a devil of a time getting in the back door because the deadbolt was frozen.  I finally got the key in and then, after a while was able to turn it.  The trick was simply holding onto the key and also wrapping my hand around the lock.  The combination warmed it up.  After I'd turned on the heat it was frozen again, so I called Bonnie and told them to bring some lock de-icer, if they didn't already have some.  I didn't have any.

I put out the fishing rigs but there was no action or at least I didn't catch any fish.  One of the rigs had its minnow stolen during the day. 

My plan is to take the girls to Barrie on Friday morning.  I've got an appointment with the BMW dealer there since my fan clutch has failed ... frozen ... again.  I could probably drive to Florida with it sounding like a jet engine but don't want to have the fan shatter on the way down.  This is the think that failed on us when we were in Revelstoke more than 100,000 miles ago -- 2010 ?.  Time does fly.  I could do this myself, if I had the part, and it would only take about 1/2 hour.  I've had that fan out a few times now.  a) I don't have the part; b) it's awfully cold to be working on the car outside. 

I'll bet that I could do something in Clapperton's garage, if I asked and paid him a nominal amount, or have the Arnstein garage do the job but all this is wishful thinking because I don't have the part !  Of course I have to pay the dealer about 3x what I'd pay for the part online in the U.S. ... but that's the way that it goes.  It's still cheap transportation !  I've got about 2,000 miles to drive, at least, before I'd be able to do this myself so I'll spring for the part ... unless, of course, it stops sounding like a jet engine when I drive into town today or Britt tomorrow.  I can manage the fan speed by staying in high gears and did drive it that way from Revelstoke to Saskatoon without incident ... hmm.

Speaking of cars, Jim and Bonnie came up in her car.  His was all loaded and the power steering failed or at least wasn't working.  I'll bet that it's just his belt slipping because there's not much to that little hydraulic pump.  He'll find out when he goes back because it's now parked inside.  They were a little later than they'd planned because they had to unload and reload again.

Anything else ?  Not much.  Zoe didn't have a very good day, likely teething problems.  They all made cookies in the afternoon.  We had sausages, zucchini and roasted potato wedgies for dinner.

Today ... we'll keep busy during the day and then I've got some limited fireworks and lots of sparklers for them once it gets dark.  Of course it gets dark early, so they can actually do the sparklers before dinner.  Speaking of dinner, that will be fondue.  I've got the beef marinading; we'll also do pork, which just needs to thaw and cut into cubes and, last but not least, shrimp that Sandy has to clean ... I think.  Of course she also has chocolate fondue ...

Onward !