May 15 - the Ides of May

Well ... I can't get the 4-wheeler going.  I thought that with some more quick-start, it would ... but it only fires and dies.  I'll undoubtedly try some more but it looks like the machine is due for a trip to Parry Sound.  It's nine years old at this point so I guess that it's due.

We got a lot more rain yesterday.  Jason got lucky though, it paused for a few minutes when he arrived so that he could unload.  Gavin is up with them, newly walking on his foot.  It looks like he's due for an extended recovery period, physio etc.

Jason got his water going, no issues on the input side.  Cold and hot both work.  His hot water heater is ancient so he's always worried about that failing.  The output side is a problem though.  The ground is so saturated, actually still frozen beneath the cottage, that his septic isn't draining.  To put it bluntly, they can use water in the sinks, pee in the toilet, but no poop, because they don't do a full flush.  So ... out toilets and showers will be getting a little more work this weekend, which certainly isn't a problem.  At least we can offer a warm out-house !

The rain provided an opportunity to do some burning.  The old wood pile of my Dad's, which also has a variety of pipes etc. over by the satellite dishes, has started to fall down.  There's a bunch of old lumber there from our construction and even before, most of it starting to rot.  I burned a lot of it yesterday.  That gave me a good workout, hauling 2x4's, 2x6's, 2x10's, 2x12's, some 16' long, up to the burn pile by the barn-level of the driveway.  That pile was already overflowing with cut-up pieces of birch etc. from the tree that fell down last year.  All the semi-rotten stuff ended up on that pile. 

There's still a lot of old pipe that I'll need to take to the dump.  Some of it is good, and I'll keep; some of it isn't applicable any more because we've changed our water system.  I will have to do some sorting.

I did some working out in the basement with weights.  My shoulder is still bothering me from the last couple of workouts with John where we over-stressed it.

We have things sorted out on Sandy's car now.  We got the estimate from the body shop, around $1,300, and the insurance company isn't going to bother sending an adjustor.  Clearly we're not trying to extract extra money out of them.  They've issued a check (USD so it's a check, not a cheque) that's being mailed to Florida, naturally, our home address.  They will also pay us for a rental when Sandy leaves her car at the shop for three days, which she's planning on doing a couple of weeks from now.

The hummingbirds are back, waiting anxiously for Sandy to put up the feeders.  Gold Finches are at the feeder out front.  I bought some sunflower seed for the side feeder and undoubtedly will see birds, if not a bear, at that feeder soon.

That's about it ... or at least all I can remember ...

Onward !