Blog Archives

Not much on this Thursday

30/11/2017

Almost the end of the week and the plumber was in and all the plumbing is now installed. Tony the tiller finished off the back splashes behind the countertops and Phil the foreman put up the over the stove fan hood. Everything is coming together. I will wait to get photos of the finished kitchen once the electric plugs have been reinstalled. Because of the back splashes they need longer screws to secure them to the wall. Phil will be doing that tomorrow.

Other than that not much else has been happening. Although I have started doing a bit more family genealogy research again. I seem to go in fits and starts on it. Usually stop when I hit a wall and leave it for awhile then pick it up again. I have to be careful that I don’t get side tracked on one of the more obscure relatives. Follow the right trail Bill!

Oh yea because the Lotto Max is at 50 million this week I did get out and buy a couple of tickets.

We made it to Wednesday

29/11/2017

AHHHH the middle of the week has arrived yet again and along with it the usual Old FARTS “meeting” for lunch at the Vanier Legion. A bit of a mix up today though. It appears as if Rob the cook was told that we would not be there today. Alas, much to his surprise almost the full crew did show up. Consequently because of the miscue there was no ‘special’ meal so Rob put together Club Sandwiches for us. While everyone was happy with that we did miss his special usual culinary Wednesday delight.

As for the renovations Tony the tiller was in and we now have tile back splashes behind the counters and above where the stove will be installed. They do look quite nice and complement the cabinets and counter tops. Tomorrow he will be back to do the grouting and finishing. Hopefully the plumber will also be in along with the painters for a final coat in the upstairs hallway and a few other touch ups.

Ya Gotta Love Bell

28/11/2017

I had to miss posting yesterday because out good old Bell Fibe service was down. We lost the internet and TV on Sunday night just about bedtime so I didn’t do anything about it until Monday morning. What a job that was. The first ‘support person’ that I talked to said that there some something wrong with the modem and it would have to be changed and he would arrange for a tech to install a new one. Suddenly there was no one on the line and after waiting at least 5 minutes I hung up and called back. Got a different support person and they said that everything was arranged and a tech would be here to install a new modem between noon and 5 pm. I hit the roof…. Any way there was nothing I could do about the time unless it was to arrange a time for today (Tuesday). I had to accept that time frame even though I had started the call about 9am! After waiting all afternoon with no results I called Bell support at 6pm and was told that the tech was on his way but was stuck in traffic. He finally arrived at 7pm. At last a tech who really knew what he was doing.

He rewired the incoming line with new connection/splitter the new modem was directly connected to the splitter and mounted in the furnace room, where our electrician was going to install it. He then installed a wifi box for the TV that was connected to the original modem via coax cable. Why the original installed did not do this is beyond me!

We are now fully WiFi.

Today the granite counter tops were delivered and installed and I must admit they do look quite smart. The black does make a contrast with the light colours in the living and dinning rooms and only adds contrast and livens up both rooms. Tomorrow the plumber will be in to finish up the plumbing and, connect the dishwasher and new kitchen sink and taps.

Also arriving tomorrow will be the tiler to put up the splash guards now that the counters have been installed. Everything is finally coming together and hopefully the first week in December everything will be finished. Then it will be just to wait until the new dining room furniture is made and delivered.

Photos for the counter will be put up once the taps have been installed.

Sports Day

26/11/2017

Thanks to our son Donald and the reduced price tickets we made it to the Senators, Islanders hockey game last night. The local Scout groups were given the opportunity to purchase discounted tickets, our $47.50 seat up in the 300 gods was only $35.00, a substantial saving. I am certainly glad that the tickets were at an approximate 30% saving because that is about the effort both teams seemed to be playing at. The Sens only seemed to be putting up a good effort in the last 2 minutes of the first and second period. Even after the Islanders scored their first goal the Sens only put on a good show for a couple of minutes. The most exciting and fast paced part of the game was in the last five minutes of the third period. Neither team seemed to have the usual high speed, hard hitting aspects of this game in mind when they stepped onto the ice last night. Last nights loss of 2 - 1 extends the Senators losing streak to six in a row. While the game may have been lacklustre it was good to be out with the whole family.

As most Canadians know today is Grey Cup day, the annual Canadian Football League playoff game between the winners of the East and West divisions. The venue changes from year to year and this year it is here in Ottawa and the teams are; the Toronto Argonauts vs the Calgary Stampeders. One game I more or less remember was in 1965 while I was stationed at NRS Frobisher Bay. Our All Ranks Mess was converted into a football field with yardage lines marked with tape more or less to scale. The East and West supporters where seated on each side of the field. While we listened to the game on CBC it was an actual rebroadcast of Radio Canada International on short wave one of members acted as the ball carrier and moved the ball up and down the field. I did have to look it up to see who was playing and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 22-16.

A dull Saturday

25/11/2017

Off to see the Ottawa Senators hockey team play the New York Islanders tonight. Our son Don got cheap tickets through his work so the five of us from here are going and the four of them as well. It should be an interesting game and hopefully Ottawa will break their losing streak.

Got some things shifted from the backyard into the garage and the snow blower unblocked and moved. Tried starting it and while it didn’t start on the first pull it only took a couple of pulls and chock on to get it going. Didn’t try and run it just wanted to see if it would start. Will probably give the intake rotors a go tomorrow. Don’t want to rush things. I had wanted to get it moved and ensure that it was working last month but always thought that the renovations would be finished and that would be the ideal time. But as the world turns it didn’t turn out that way. Anyway at least it starts.

Hopefully, will make it to the allotment garden tomorrow and dig up the parsnips and see how the sweet potatoes survived. The parsnips should stay in the ground as long as possible and do like to get a good cold snap to bring out the sweetness. I am not so sure about the sweet potatoes though. i think they should have been out of the ground before a frost. Oh well, will see how they turned out. And there is always next year.

A really dull and dreary day today. Rained all morning and completely cloud covered now and still a good chance of rain.

I have Hareth out cutting down the remaining flower stalks in the front yard so we will have an area to blow the snow into. I know that the snow will be coming. Wishing that it wouldn’t but we do live in “The Great White North”.

You will also notice that I have added some more information about today's weather giving the past years results. Today's actual data, as usual, will be added tomorrow

Another lazy day

24/11/2017

Another dull drab day and it seems to be affecting my mood. HA HA! Well maybe a little bit but nothing serious. I just have to get my bum in gear and get outside. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to rearrange the backyard a bit and get some of the things into the garage. I do have to get the snowblower out and see if it will start ok. I wanted to do that last month but because of all the things in the backyard it was kind of blocked in. Now I have to get it done. Might even make it over to the allotment garden and get the parsnips dug up and see how the sweet potatoes did. Not sure just how well they would have done because they shouldn't have had a blast of cold weather. But will see how they turned out.

A Lazy Day

23/11/2017

Thursday and the weekend is drawing near. Not much to say today. Things are pretty quite on the home front. A dull dreary day but that is what can be expected at this time of year.

Electrician and the foreman in doing work today.

I started to add a bit more to my Reminiscing part V entry that I start quite awhile ago (not posted) and ran out of steam on it. Actually got waylaid into something else, looking for photos of trips to put in a link. I think what I am going to do is add another menu bar item Reminiscing and add the different entries under that rather than keep them as part of the blog. The idea for that came about because I was thinking of one thing I said when I between 10 and 12 years old; “I would never see the year 2000 and if I did I would be to old to enjoy it.” Well I have certainly proven myself wrong on that part. You will either have to search down for the previous blog entries or wait until I have everything reorganized.

First Christmas Lunch of the year

22/11/2017

The Christmas season has begun. Of course quite a few stores had Christmas paraphernalia in the stores at the end of October and a few people have had lights up as well. However, I see more and more lights going up every day now. And our first Christmas lunch was today.

Just back from the Old FARTS Christmas lunch at the Vanier Legion. Our small group meets up every Wednesday for a lunch, no matter what it is it is $10.00. Rob the cook does an outstanding job feeding us for the $10.00 special but he also has a limited menu that is available. Today he outdid himself; turkey, tourtiere, ham, mash potatoes, carrots, cranberry sauce, gravy and a white cake with a maple syrup sauce for dessert. All this for the exorbitant price of $20.00 including tip.

The organizers were a little worried that it would be well attended but there was close to 40 people who enjoyed the meal and camaraderie of seldom seen old workmates.

Luc the electrician was in again today installing more lights including the ones for under the counter, and one over the seating area of the island. New eavestrough put up around the house and garage. Plumbers in and now have the new basement bathroom and mud room powder room installed and working. And Alex finished up some outside flashing and inside clean-up. Now if only the granite could have been delivered on time everything would almost be finished. Alas another week before that arrives, then the installation, final electrics (ie face plates installed), last coat on the floors and a clean-up. Then comes the job of bringing everything in from the garage and arrangement. We certainly should be in before Christmas.

21 November 2017

21/11/2017

Thanks for all the Facebook positive comments on my site…. It is good to know that at least a few people are taking a peek at it.

It was supposed to have warmed up today and be above zero. However, I do not see very much evidence of it. Although there is a little water running off of the roof.
I have updated the past couple of days weather forecasts by adding the actual high, low and snow on the ground to the previous entries. I should be doing that on a daily basis. That is if I keep adding something every day. I suppose even just putting in the weather forecast could be a step in that direction.

The renovations are slowly starting to wind down. The painters finished yesterday and the colours look, as Wendy would say, amazing. I didn’t get any photos of the paint scheme because I don’t think the colours would come out properly. Luc the electrician is almost finished, the pot lights are all in but he can’t put the covers on the switches and outlets until the kitchen is finished. Everything just has to fall in line and with the delay with the counter tops it has put that project behind as well. One thing did get fully installed today and that was the basement carpet. The basement is now fully carpeted, except around the washer and dryer and in the bathroom. The basement certainly does look brighter with the new paint scheme and carpet. We will put some of the cutoffs in the storage area to help keep the dust down and hopefully a bit warmer.

I will put the photos of the carpet up under the Renovations menu heading. Rather than have them scattered abound I suppose that is the easiest thing to do. Keep them all in one place.

In some of my previous blog entries I had started to do a bit of reminiscing about my time after the year 2000 that I had predicted I would never see. My latest idea is to have it as a menu item and put all of the entries there. Now it is just to get my bum in gear and do it.

When we were out and about shopping yesterday for some ice melter at the local Home Hardware there was a little ‘kitchen herb garden’ for sale. Three small pots with chive, parsley and basal seeds plus the growing medium. Well I just had to give that a try so now I have the seeds planted and will hopefully get some results. Brought all the potted plants indoors last week but I think the cold hit them pretty hard. Will have to keep an eye on them over the next couple of weeks to see how things go.

20 November 2017

20/11/2017

Seeing as how I said that I would try and post something every day even if there is not much to report. Well that is what has happened today.

The snow is still on the ground and it is cold. Not as cold as it is going to get but still quite chilly.

Not even much to update on the renovations. Things are in the downward spiral as far as work goes. The painters finished up today but no photos. The colours just don’t show up as well. The foreman has also been doing a bit of the minor work, installed the vanity in the mud room bathroom and the vanity in the new bathroom in the basement.

The granite countertop was supposed to be delivered and installed tomorrow but because of a supply problem the manufacturer can not deliver it. Consequently that is on hold but it should only be a week. Because the granite can not be delivered I believe that has put the splash tiles on hold as well. It only takes one thing to put the chain of events behind schedule. The Revelstoke project manager is not impressed. Carpet is still scheduled to be delivered and installation started tomorrow.

Missed the OH3 hash run this evening for personal reasons - namely the cold. I think I really am turning into a fair-weather hasher. Although I should be back at it next week.