Jan 5 - a blog-aversary

Not too long from now I'll hit my 2nd anniversary of blogging. I started this so that I could record my training for and riding of the American by Bicycle ride. It has degenerated into my almost-daily bilge about what is going on in our lives. Mostly it's pretty boring, if I say so myself. Just writing my own blog makes me realize that we've got to do something, go somewhere.

Over the two years, beyond the bike ride, it's been a log of our travels, our visitors, our visiting, my projects, some daily activities eg. boating and fishing, along with many thoughts and other bumpf that just comes out of my head and flows through my fingers. It would only take a few lines to summarize it all ... but somehow I've written a lot of stuff.

Of necessity, the blog skates above my inner self ... anxieties, anger, whatever ... that are not suitable for public consumption. So while the blog is not entirely "good news" writing, it's not a diary either. I have to consider the audience.

Like any parents, we worry about our children -- their relationships, their finances, their health and happiness. We worry about our own finances too ... and occasionally have our own relationship problems -- differences that sometimes cause us to be pi$$ed off with one another. If I blog long enough eventually we'll have significant health issues ... or sudden passing will stop the blogging. Will I still be writing to this blog 10, 15 years from now ? Will I still be writing to this blog 10 days from now ? Who knows ...

Are you wondering where I'm going with this ? Well, so am I ...

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After David left we had a quiet day. We did go for our walk over to the Lodge. It's about 2 miles, I'd guess. It was sunny on the way there with the wind at our backs ... then clouds moved in and the wind picked up causing us to lean heavily into the wind just to make forward progress on the way back. As usual, it was windy between the Lodge and the cottage on the point, with the wind coming from Smith's Bay.

Jim Matthews was out in front of his place as we passed by so Abby ran to greet him. He was about to go up to the road and cut another four feet off the tree that David and I had cut that blocked the road. He also wanted to come over and test out his newly re-wired trailer lights -- I had volunteered that he could use my trailer in the barn for that. We agreed to meet in 15 minutes or so up at the barn.

I beat him to the barn but could hear him on the road so Abby and I went up to see the progress that he was making. Ernie Bains was up there with him ... Ernie is not getting around very well because he needs his knee done and had postponed it so that he could go hunting. Well, he did get a good-sized buck but now can hardly walk. Was that a good trade-off ? His spouse Marion is not well, making him the primary care-giver ... can he cope ? How long will they be able to maintain a life on the lake, especially in the winter ?

Sandy went into town, going to the dump, General Store and the LCBO. The latter was closed; she forgot that they are closed on Mondays. I'll go today.

We're still waiting for the propane delivery. I'm getting irritated and anxious about that. Once we leave, I don't know if Al plows the driveway wide enough for a propane truck to get down here. Once we leave, how will I know if they ever deliver propane ? Will 30% of a tank last the rest of the winter ? They were supposed to deliver before Christmas, then the 31st ... they know that we're only here today and tomorrow and have not done the promised call-back.

I guess that I know what I'll be doing if I don't have a propane delivery by the time that we leave after our ski trip -- I'll be wiring up some heaters in the basement set at less than 50F -- the temperature that the furnace is supposed to keep the house. My Dad had some thermostats that were accurate at low temperatures that he used in the crawl space under the old cottage. I saved them ... and should probably set this up every winter anyway. The furnace blower would still run, circulating the air. I would hope that some 220V heaters on a 20 amp circuit could keep the temperature over freezing ... but I'm not sure. It's a big house. I turn the water off and mostly drain and/or protect the toilets and traps with RV anti-freeze. The only casualty of a complete freeze would be some appliances -- dishwasher & clothes washer. I still have the compressor downstairs so I could probably blow out those lines too.

Of course there is also the wine cellar. I should experiment with one of the little heaters to see if I can set it up to keep the wine cellar around 55-60F. It's a small, well insulated closed space so that should not be a major issue. I could also just unplug the cooler and open the door ...

What else ... I watched some more of my Stargate Atlantis. I have two more DVD's to go on Season Four. Season Five is the current season and I'll probably end up buying that on DVD after it's over. I kept my fishing lines in place over the day and did catch a pike. We now have three in the freezer, having eaten one for dinner last night. The last batch of minnows that I got in town were 12 Dace and 12 Emerald Shiners. The Dace all died in my pail over the course of 48 hours. I'm not sure why. They are usually more hardy than Shiners. The Shiners seem to be catching the pike but they don't survive long in the water after being skewered with the hook. I'd have to change the minnows every couple of hours if I wanted to maximize my catch. I still have a half-dozen minnows left, assuming that they are still alive in my bucket downstairs, so I'll fish again today. I haven't decided yet whether I'll buy some more. It hardly seems worthwhile given that tomorrow is our last day.

I have to get packing today. The ski stuff is spread out among a few different closets -- boots, clothes, helmets, other paraphernalia like boot heaters etc. We'll have our two big ski clothes bags, the bag with the skis and a separate clothes bag each. I'll carry mine on to minimize extra baggage charges, but undoubtedly will have to pay some this year, with all their surcharges these days. I'm not going to bring my camera bag, but will be bringing my PC in its bag. Sandy will have her purse and carry-on with reading material etc. If I can persuade her to leave room in her carry-on for the purse then we might be able to bring her small duffel on-board as well. She always objects to that ... but now that we have to pay I have an additional argument to make.

That's it. We didn't hear from David but I'm assuming that he made it into Toronto ok. I talked to Stef yesterday and exchanged emails with Jeffrey -- they are back in their daily routines.