May 25 - yucch !

The coffee that I'm drinking now ... yucch !  It tastes like McD's only stronger.  Our roaster temperature sensor has gone so Sandy tried doing some roasting with a frying pan and all I can say is yucch !

I roasted some anyway, which took about three times as long; haven't tried that batch.  Sandy picked up some Starbucks; haven't tried that either.  The new parts are "in the mail"; won't take long to install, but they will arrive in Loring in an indeterminate timeframe, mailed from the US.

In the meantime, my mornings are ruined !  Yucch !

The big deal yesterday was running the wire for the invisible fence.  The brand that I bought is "Sportdog".  I thought that I was probably purchasing much more wire than I needed -- 2,000 feet -- but guess what; only have a little left.  It runs from the shore at the other side of our shed over to the  shore on the other side of Jason's boat ramp.  Of course, since it needs a complete loop, it runs twice, those wires 3+ feet apart. 

Now Sandy has to do the training.  Oh yes, I've also put flags every 10-15 feet and buried the wires across the two driveways.  For the first wire, I sliced some pipe lengthwise and buried it then decided that was too much trouble and buried the other three wires unprotected.  I expect that there will be more breakage in the bush than across the driveways.

So I tromped that distance through the bush several times.  There are a couple of places where I should really splice some extra wire because it ended up suspended and I have to go back out with wire nuts and fix the splices better, but the loop is working now and the collar works when it's about 6' from the wire.  I can increase or decrease that distance using a control on the power box that's located in the shed, but we'll start with this.

The mosquitoes are in clouds, once you're tromping through the bush.  I had my bug jacket on but my hands got several bites as did my shoulders - they can bite right though the bug jacket and t-shirt if it's taut enough.  It was too warm to wear something thicker. 

Sandy did some planting out front; hastas in pots and the grandma plant.  I see the grandma plant inside right now so she must have been worried about stress from the cool evening but it only got down to 55F.

A truck has been going back and forth on the road dumping at the turnaround.  I went up and chatted with the driver, who wasn't sure how much more material there would be as a basement is being dug, or that's what I picked up.  Matt Carter came over and asked if it was ok for them to do that -- yes, as long as it's clean fill and vegetation.  I checked it out and they're doing a good job of pushing it over the bank.  I then drove down the road with the 4-wheeler to see which cottage was having the work done - Copelli.  Sandy and I went down with the boat and checked it out; they are clearing a new area ... did I get that basement part correct or is that a garage ? Not sure.  Time will tell.

Still on the water, we went up to Carter's since I could see him sitting at the dock.  He's there by himself for the week, a friend perhaps coming in a few days.  We chatted for a bit -- he's planning on retiring in two years.

I heard from Al and Sandra who are still awaiting MNR approval for their driveway.  They are cycling in Europe right now so not exactly sitting still and agitating :).  I guess that it's not surprising that it would stall for the winter.

So with all that tromping, I didn't go for a bike ride.  Besides, the 20kph north wind wasn't particularly inviting.  I'm not feeling particularly needful as I will be doing 1500 kms starting Saturday.  I've got a bit of bike maintenance to do and will go out today, even if it's for a short ride, as long as I'm not going to get rained upon.

I guess that's about it ... Cassie got some swimming / fetching; she played with Bailey, Bob Simms dog - he and his wife are in.  Bob's about to get his second knee done so he hasn't been out fishing. 

I backed the 4-wheeler trailer into the garage and hoisted the Merc 25 off the trailer with a couple of ratchet straps.  It's now suspended awaiting parts ... speaking of which, I'm going to call Jason's used outboard motor parts guy this a.m.

What else ... I think that's it.  This coffee is so bad I could hardly get down the last bit. 

Onward !