I spent most of the day hanging the tarps on the gazebo or thinking about the tarps or dealing with the tarps.
I couldn't do any more until I had more hooks, or so I thought. I delayed going into Loring until the Post Office would be open and then stared at the various options at HHBC for a while, deciding that it was ridiculously expensive to purchase enough screw-eyes in little packs of 3. I decided that I'd figure something else out and went to the PO.
Sure enough, our Canadian ex-pat voting letters were there, re-mailed by Joanne in Florida. All it took was a label and a global stamp, to send.
So ... what does the new expat vote look like ? (this is brand new).
1) a ballot. You must look up the people who are running in your riding and write the name of your chosen candidate on the ballot. We are in Mississauga South, since that's where we last lived in Canada.
2) an inner envelope, to enclose your ballot.
3) an outer envelope, where you sign your life away, under pain of imprisonment or death, that you are eligible to vote and are only voting once. No millions of fraudulent votes like the US !
4) an outer outer envelope, for actually putting in the mail !
Now we just have to ensure that our ballot gets to its destination by Oct 21. That's entirely up to Canada Post.
After marveling at the paper-bound technology, it was back to the tarps. I purchased these clips (purchased 24 but was missing 2) that work instead of grommets (and are actually better than grommets). I folded down the tops of the tarps for the sides and back so that they would hang and be just over the bottom of the gazebo, no slack at the bottom. That sounds quick, but it isn't. In fact, as I hung these I was adjusting the clips from side to side, to lineup with the hooks and up and down to get the height correct. There's a lot of laddering involved; lots of exercise.
At the sides, I was originally planning on lacing them together but ended up using cable ties. they'll do the job and don't add "play" to the setup or stretch. By the end of the day I had all four tarps in place. It will be a lot faster next year as I'll simply hang the same tarps from the same hooks (which depends on me labeling them !). It should end up being faster than the old system. I would like to replace the 8 nails that I used instead of hooks so that it makes it easier to hang the lights. I also still need to use the long ratchet straps to wrap around and reduce wind billow. I'm not sure that I actually need to do anything at the base. I'll see how they hang once I add the ratchet straps. There will be a tendency to work upwards so perhaps some bottom tying is necessary.
Just ask me how I can make something so simple into a high tech, multi-faceted project !!
Then Sandy got home from walking Cassie. Cassie, btw, had no problem walking with her high-vis blaze orange jacket. Anyway, Sandy had invited Ron and Annemarie from down the lake, over for a drink at 5pm. Having learned from Matt Carter's visit, I had my shower well before 5pm :). They weren't quite as prompt but stayed until 7:45. We had a late dinner, of course.
R&A have done a lot of world-wide traveling, so we had an interesting conversation. They also looked this area over for quite a while before buying, staying at Tornadoes once and then being the first clients of the Dollars Lake etc. etc. lodge, nee Whippoorwill Lodge. Ron recently retired and then un-retired, working at the same place in Sudbury as an employee of a subcontractor ... apparently an offer that he couldn't refuse. If you enjoy what you're doing, there's no need to retire .... the inverse of which is why I retired !
Another day was done. 32.2F this morning and now warming with the sun out. Lovely day ahead and no more frost before we leave.
Onward !
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