Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Longer Days and Less Time

Well I've been meaning to drop a line or two since Sunday night but I keep falling asleep everytime I sit down in this chair. I either must be under a lot of stress that I don't know about yet or I need to up my thryoid meds another notch or two.
This past weekend was a 1st class spring weekend and I managed to get some things done. Actually been pretty busy since the last entry. Saturday it was suppose to rain but never did. Wanda went up to Mt. Pleasant with her sister to play at the casino for the day so after napping in until about 10 and then making breakfast I went over to Home Depot and bought a new wheelbarrow that I really needed cuz my old one just finally fell apart. Wanda bought it for me, for father's day I think way back when the girls were little and I spent quite a bit of time out in the garden, which is now the dogpen. Anyhow, after the stop at H.D. We (Bailey was my ride along buddy) paid a visit to Dairy Treat which was celebrating it's first day open for the 2008 season. After sharing a hot fudge malt we headed back home and after a bit of wandering around the house I decided to jump in with both feet and clean up the truck from a long, cold and dirty winter. So for the rest of the afternoon I scrubbed and polished, cleaned windows and basically gave it the once over. By the time I was tired of labouring it was 7:00 so I took a break to make some supper. After supper me and Bailey took another ride around town, this time in the hot rod before sunset and after that we headed back home and took it easy until the wife got back home from her trip.
Sunday the plan was to head up to the campground and open up the trailer and get it cleaned up and air'd out for the summer, so that's what we did (Chris went with me, along with Bailey and Mercury). From the time we got there, late morning, until about 6:00pm we were busy cleaning, raking and organizing stuff. Most of my time was spent with the camper. after scrubbing it down from top to bottom I got her cranked up and opened and then pulled out the cushions, cleaned out the cupboards, put up the screen house, hooked up the water to the outhouse, turned on the electric, got the fridge running and a half dozen other things before calling it a day and heading back home. The plan was to go up for the weekend this coming weekend but that might change depending on weather and work.
This week and last week folks from Brown and Sharpe have been at Burnside, retro fitting my CMM with all new guts to the tune of about 30 grand. Along with the money then spent to get my machine up to snuff I also got a substantial raise a couple weeks ago which was pretty cool. I really hope things continue to go well there cuz I'd really like to stick around for awhile and get that lab running at 100%
Last night we were invited over to Ri and Adams for dinner so we were there with our appetites about 6:30. After dining on some tasty chicked, green beans and a baked potato we spent the rest of the evening playing Wii, Which for those who don't know is interactive computer gaming. We played Baseball, Tennis and some Golf and to play you have to stand there and go thru the motions of the game, swing a bat, or a racket, or a club. While it's probably not equal to a 10K run it is a bit of exercise and quite a hoot.
I guess that's pretty much it for now. If we make it up to camp this weekend I'll probably write soon, if we don't go this weekend it'll probably be next weekend for sure, unless the weather is really suckin'...I'm looking forward to my first nap around the campfire with stars overhead :-)

TC

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Spring Is Finally Here

A beautiful weekend has just about come to a close. Yesteday the temps made it to the mid 60's and today it hit 72°! Now, if we can just avoid any relapses life will be good.
Saturday was spent for the most part doing clean-up work around the house and yard. I started out doing the dishes but it was just too nice outside to stay indoors so I grabbed the rake and made my first project cleaning up the dog pen. After a long winter it needed it. I also swept up the breezeway. All those hairy little paws bring in a fair amount of dirt this time of year. After that was completed I played some soccer with the critters cuz they'd been bugging me all day with the ball.
After playtime I grabbed my trusty rake again and headed out to do some raking in the front of the house. I decided I'd do the side yard and make the neighbors happy. So with the ipod hooked up and rocking to some James McMurtry I spent the next couple hours raking and triming back the grass that had grown over the edge of the cement. Once that task was complete I went and hooked up the hose and washed the dirt off the cement. Then I did the same thing to the patio.
The next task was to get the van parked in position to put the For Sale sign back in again and see if we can have any better luck this year with a reduced price.
By now it was almost 6pm so I decided I'd been putting it off long enough and took the cover off the bike and pushed it out of the garage before firing her up. While it was warming up I went and got my coat and helmet and then proceeded to take a cruise around town for awhile just to make sure I hadn't forgot how to ride it. Once I'd passed that test I brought her back home and parked her in the garage. My plan from here on out is to ride it to work as many days as I can, depending on temps and precipitation.
After the bike ride it was time for some supper so while Wanda worked on our taxes I went to Papa Murphy's and bought a pizza. After pigging out on that it was pretty much time to kick back. I stayed up until about 3:30am ripping albums and uploading.
This morning I got up about 9:30am and proceeded to make the standard Sunday morning breakfast. Eggs and bacon for the wife and pancakes for me and the dogs. Once breakfast was finished I grabbed the camera gear, a couple dogs (Bailey and Mercury) and headed up to the compound for the first time since the start of the year. There was still quite a bit of snow on the north side slopes in the woods but our site was snow free! I wandered around a bit checking things out and then decided to start the 2008 clean up project with some raking. I started with the yard area and after several hours and some tired arms got most of the leaves moved on down the hill. The wind kept messing with me....all of a sudden there'd be a gust that would send thousands of leaves rolling down the hill in the correct direction and then 5 minutes later another gust would come along and blow against my efforts.
To give my arms a break I got the dogs hooked up to leashes and we took a hike around parts of the campground. We made a stop at the lake and Bailey just walked right into the water right up to his chin and proceeded to lap away. Mercury on the other hand wanted nothing to do with getting wet and put his feet in just far enough to get a drink. After the break was over we headed back to camp, got out the spray paint and went looking for a dozen suitable trees that we could use for the fence project that wouldn't make a dent in the overall look of our forest spot. After awhile of wandering up and down hill I found enough trees and marked them to give myself a good start on at least the south side fence. I want to get some fast growing pine trees for the east side, along with the fence, so we can have a bit more privacy eventually. I need to do some research on that pretty soon here.
After marking the trees we took a break and ate some ritz crackers and washed it down with some cold well water. The dogs were kicked back at that point so I laid back on the deck with the sun shining on me and dozed off for a little bit. By the time the nap was over it was getting on to 5:00pm so I went around and locked things back up and turned off the power. Took one last look around and then headed down the road for home. We got back here about 6:30 and by the time dinner was over and I'd had a shower it was a bit past 8. The rest of the evening has been spent down here with the headphones on boppin' to Marshall Tucker Band.
Eyes are heavy now so it's time to call it a weekend and go get some sleep. I have a feeling I'm gonna be a bit stiff in the morning If now is any indication.........hope I didn't overdo it too much, not into pain.

Night.

TC

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

The End Of Hibernation

Just a short note tonight.
After I got home from work Wanda wanted to go get something to eat at the newly reopened Quizno's where brother-in-law Tony is now the manager so that's what we did. While we were sitting there eating I decided that due to the fact that it was April, the sun was out and I was sick of waiting to get the Hot Rod out when we got back home. So, that's what I did. Fired her up, backed her out onto the driveway and let her warm up for a bit while I did a quick check once around. When the temp gage started to register I got the co-pilot, Bailey, out of the breezeeway and we took off down the road. We did the once around town, cruised the beach and went out to Harbor Island where I jumped out and took a couple pics with my camera phone. From there we went back thru town and then headed out south, down the highway to wind her up and clean that carbon out of the pipes. Wound her up to just about 90mph and then lifted. Nothing like the sound of an unrestricted V-8. Does the ole heart good. We came back home via Mercury drive, pulled into the garage and called it a cruise.
The weatherman says it might hit 60° this weekend so a short trip around on the bike might be in order. we'll see though...I hate to have 6 layers of clothes on just to ride. If it does get that warm out I'll probably go up to the compound and do some maintenence. Too soon to pop open the camper but if the snows gone up there like around here then I can at least do some clean-up work and start marking some suitable trees to log for the fence project this summer.
Time for bed now....been draggin' a bit this week with a stuffy nose and red eyes.