Apr 26/27 - the gazebo is open for business

My original title was going to be "no crappy yet" but somehow the message that Sandy left for Bonnie seemed more fitting -- a positive message !

It's a beautiful day today. I just got back from a ride, albeit short. I had other things to do but with the temps in the 70's and nothing similar soon in the forecast, I decided to squeeze in a three hour ride.

Backing up -- we left Oakville around 8:30 yesterday and headed to The Apple Market -- a place where Sandy used to buy veggies close to our house in Port Credit. It was rainy and drizzly -- a perfect day to drive, in the sense that we were not wasting a good day. When we got there I walked back to check the trailer and noticed that the license plate was hanging by one screw, almost vertical. The area where the other screw goes was completely broken away from the rest of the plate ... hmmm ... what to do ? The market did not sell any twine or wire and this was not a place for duck tape, which I had. The design of these trailer plate holders is crazy -- they hang from the top two screws, blowing in the wind with nothing behind them. After driving a few thousand miles ... yes, a few thousand miles ... the back and forth fluttering of the plate is bound to break the metal.

Anyway, to make a long story short, after leaving the market we found a convenience store and I bought a roll of tie-wire, the kind that you make twist ties out of or hang plants. Around and around and around, from top to bottom, on both sides -- obviously partly obscuring the lettering on the plate but at least I had an excuse, and we were good to go.

Oh -- even before that, we had a stop. Leaving Stef's we noticed that the tires sounded funny -- funny loud. I postulated that it was the weight of the boat on the tongue and sure enough, when we pulled into a gas station on a slight uphill slant and jacked up the tongue of the trailer without actually taking it off the hitch, gallons and gallons and gallons of water poured out the drain plug. When we then set out for the market all was well. Other than the aforementioned issue with the license plate all was well for the rest of the trip.

We stopped at a new Subway that they have at the Petro Canada at Waubushene. That was our lunch. We arrived up north around 1:30. All was well but of course it was drizzling so it was a pain to get unloaded. After about one hundred trips up and down the stairs to empty the car and another hundred trips up and down the stairs and up and down from the barn to empty the boat which I'd left up there, we were done. I did the tripping; Sandy dealt with things in the house as I brought them down. Well ... most of it ... I had to deal with the beer, the bikes, the wine, the biking food ... yup, by the time we were finished I was tired. I knew that it was 5pm somewhere, although it was an hour early here ... but I had a beer and relaxed a bit. As part of the unloading of the boat I had put it into the barn -- it really needs cleaning but I'll wait for another day when I have the water pump working and can use the hose and the power washer.

Now, had we arrived in Florida with that much stuff, we'd have been unloaded in 1/2 hour since everything is on one level. We get our exercise here, for sure.

Today, in addition to my biking exercise, I unwrapped the gazebo, taking down the tarp and the Christmas lights. As part of that exercise I move the docks around the gazebo to use ladders ... and then I put the docks in place. The big dock still needs some pushing further onto its ledge, but it's ok for now until I get the Boston Whaler out and push it forward and tighten the turnbuckles.

Sandy is doing some outside cleanup as I'm typing and in a few minutes I'm off to Smith's Bay Landing to meet with Susan Allen to take a tour of the roads in preparation for tomorrow's Lost Channel Roads Board Trustee meeting.

That's it ... we're in the land of mucho chores. New house or not there is a lot more work to this place than our easy life in Florida.

That's it for now ... oh ... crappy ? ... I'll go out later in the week and see if there are any to be found. Crappy are open season all year long. If I catch anything else, save perch, they will have to go back.