Oct 6 - just doin' my job

I have to prove that I'm useful so at the end of my bike ride, I ride up Smiths Bay Road about 1/2 mile to talk to Steve and the MTO crew.  They are doing a great job on that stretch, putting down, in some cases, rock two feet thick before it gets capped with gravel.  Here's hoping that it "sticks" !

I wanted to update Steve on my discussion with Miles and also talk about what's going to happen at the two corners blasted last year.  He's going to put down that 2" rock at those corners, leveling with the existing road.  That's great.  I told him not to worry about going to close to the trees; if we need to improve the sight-line, we can do that later by taking a couple down.

Having done my duty, I finished up my cold, windy ride.  I'd expected the sun to stick around, but it didn't.  My hands were cold and sore (arthritis), my head (no skull cap that day), my knees (hard on them in the cold without leg warmers) ... but my disposition was great !  I was taking advantage of a non-rainy day.  Cold as it was, I don't think that I'm going to have a warmer day between now and when we get to Florida, or at least a warmer riding day.

I did all the usual chores as well, bringing down some wood from the woodbox up by the barn, continuing to transcribe Jason's tapes, whenever I thought to go up to the loft and swap tapes, that is.  When I did my Dad's tapes, the DVR was in the den and transcribing was almost continuous.  I'd moved the machine up to the loft so that Sandy could record the occasional show ... but of course it happens so infrequently that I've got to set it up.  The last time was the PanAm games.

What else ... not much.  It was Sandy's birthday so she heard from Stef and David, videos forwarded from Emma and Zoe, Bonnie called.  We didn't do anything special as even Jakes was closed but I'm not sure that would class as "special" anyway, "different", perhaps ?  I was reminded that we had dinner at The Inn at Christie's Mill -- so I retroactively classed that as her birthday dinner !  What a coup !

Today, I think, she's headed to Sudbury to shop for Thanksgiving.  That could change to tomorrow, depending on the weather forecast here and there.  She did get out in the Kayak yesterday; she's picking her days here and away so that she can enjoy the weather, if it makes sense.

I've got a bunch of stuff to bring to the dump, which I may do today, and will load up the old snow tires from the old X5 to drop at Arnstein Garage when I have my new tire appointment tomorrow a.m.  I'll see what else I can squeeze in from my "to do before we leave" list.

Tonight will be our last dinner with just two of us as David will be here Thursday to Tuesday and of course we'll have Kylie and Chris for part of that time and Stef/Aaron/Lauren/Kate (and Mya) either for the day or overnight, likely Saturday as I understand it, depending on what they decide to do. The weather is shaping up to be ok; rain seems to have cleared out of the forecast.

More leaves are turning; a few are on the ground in places.  There were a couple of trees along 522 with deep reds, but not as many as other years.  I'm looking at the maple tree that overhangs the cove here at the cottage and where it normally turns a deep red, providing a spectacular picture taking opportunity, it's gone from red-brown to brown.  That certainly isn't from a lack of water, since it's right at the lake, but who knows.  Are the trees anticipating global climate change ?  Haven't they talked to the GOP in the US ?  But of course the GOP doesn't actually dispute climate change, just man's impact.  Bad for business to think that we're contributing.  Fire up those smokestacks !

David and I had this conversation about Volkswagen when we were driving to see the puppy.  I was saying that the market has already taken its bite out of the share price to account for the market impact, fines and lawsuits.  They aren't going anywhere and the downside on the share price is limited and the upside is great, was my point.  So ... we both bought some shares.  They're up a little from when I bought them, but I'm thinking that they are good for the long term.  Who knows.  They're still the biggest car company in the world but that means that they're tied in a big way to the global economy, of course.  I didn't buy many ... they're the first individual company shares that I've bought in some time.  I'm not much of a risk taker.

Chicken for dinner, accompanied by green beans (I think); sweet potato for Sandy.

Onward !