Dec 25 - wrap-up

Sandy did a bunch of cleaning, washing and planning menus; I did the wrapping.  That took a large chunk of the afternoon.

As I type this I'm trying to remember what occupied the morning hours ...

I walked the properties with Cassie; found another tree down at Jason's but I think that it's Donnie's.  About half-way between Jason's garage and Osprey Road, a tree had fallen across his driveway.  It was too heavy to simply move but the cordless reciprocating saw had just enough oomph to do the job. 

Our car, in the barn, didn't move.  Nothing was open anyway.  Today it will go to Sudbury grocery shopping; we'll all go with it, including Cassie. 

We did talk to Stef who was still at home; David who was cruising around in his new car with Morris (his father), Jeffrey at home in Reading PA (not going to Maryland this Christmas) and my brother Philip.  I guess that took part of the morning, now that I think about it.  Stef and gang were going to be heading to Mississauga to see Aaron's Dad; David was close to or at our old house on Glenburnie when we talked to him; Philip was at Diane's.  He would see Meghan later in the day, if memory serves me; Olivia is elsewhere in the world.  Late afternoon we talked to Arlene and got an update on her family.  

Everyone's doing well, albeit older.  Arlene turned 60 this past summer -- hard to believe that my sister is 60.  I think that makes her older than me ?  No, I guess that the only way that happens is if I stop accumulating years myself !  My cousin Michael turned 60 in December; he's the eldest cousin in that family.  Scott is still a couple of years away from 60. 

Earlier, before 8am, we got the automated call from Hydro One to confirm that our power was back on -- press 1 etc.  I think that Sandy told me that something like 95,000 people were without power for some periods of time.  Luckily our wire down on the roadway increased the urgency of our situation or I'm sure that we'd have been late Christmas Day, if we were lucky, before we got power back.

Oh yes, it's coming back to me now ...

I had that "battery problem" message persisting on the generator so I decided to do something about it.  I unhooked the battery, which then produced a "check battery" message, naturally.  I checked the voltage, which was well over 12, so that's good.  I'd completely charged it a couple of days earlier.  I then tried to see if one of the other batteries would fit in that spot ... well the answer is no.  It's a depression in the metal stamping the size of that group 26 and with a larger battery it wouldn't contact the little cold weather heater pad.  I could fix that, if I so chose, but the real issue is that to get a larger battery in I would have to remove the side panel, which involves a number of bolts, some hard to get at.  Normal replacement is through the front.

Oh well.  Reattaching the battery the display then prompted me to see if I'd done battery maintenance, which of course I said yes.  Lo and behold that then cleared the battery problem message. 

Who's in charge here ? Well, I'm just the lackey doing the bidding of the machine.  That's pretty obvious !

The lake was like glass most of the day.  We could see a little ice on the other side at the mouth of the bay but it dissipated later on when there was a slight, very slight, ripple.  It really was a comfortable day to be outside, mostly sunny and no wind.

The temperature made its way over freezing but is down now.  I see 22F on the indoor/outdoor.  The deck is sparkly with frost.   I'm really not sure what the weather's going to be over the next few days as the North Bay weather is significantly different from the Sudbury weather.  According to the weather service, we get NB weather but experience tells me otherwise.  Somewhere among Sudbury, North Bay and Parry Sound is reality and it varies.  That matters because Sudbury weather mostly comes across the province north of the Great Lakes whereas Parry Sound gets the full brunt of lake effect moderation and precipitation from Georgian Bay.  North Bay gets a bit of both, also moderated by Lake Nipissing, but generally colder than Parry Sound, more Sudbury-like.

Ask me next weekend and I'll tell you what the weather was like; 20-20 hindsight.

Ok, I've managed to type a bunch of stuff even though I had no idea where it was going as I typed the first sentence. 

It was just a normal, quiet Christmas Day with the two of us.  David arrives today, Jeffrey tomorrow, Stef is still working that out. 

This morning I'm up before Cassie.  I'm in the kitchen using the laptop with the under cabinet lights on so I don't disturb her.  No doubt she can hear me -- I wish that I had her hearing ! -- but she hasn't made a fuss. I'll get her up soon. 

Onward !