Back From The Mini Vacation

Got back from P.E.I. on Sunday evening. The weather for the weekend was great. Surprised to see hundred of bikers. Turned out to be an R.C.M.P. get together. They came from all across Canada. Those fast food restaurants were packed. A wall of bikes. Another surprise was that there was an old car rally in Summerside. It was great to see. There were a lot parked at my motel. I was wondering what they would say if I parked an old Pinto next to them. Would they say "Nice job old guy." or would they say " get that piece of junk behind the building. Out Classics are embarrased."

Prince Edward Island is one neat and tidy place. They have large lawns and all were trimmed. Must be good business in ride on mowers over there. It was a good trip. Betty and Natasha thought it was great. I will add a picture of the bridge. Took about fourteen min. to cross it.

A couple of days ago, I decided to tar the driveway. All three of did it and it took about three hrs. Looks like new pavement. People come around spraying driveways for about $60.00. To me it looks like they use old oil. You see some driveways where oil has leaked out. The sprayed driveways look the same.
Two hrs. after we finished the driveway, it started to rain. And it rained yesterday. So much for it getting dried soon. Today the temp is 28C/84F. Problem solved.

Have th mow the lawn out front today. Guess I better do my neighbours too. Her's looks like a hay field.

June Moving Along

Over halfway thru June. Time does move along fast. Mowed the lawn. Have to do that once a week.
Betty and John painted the patio. I painted the part of the shed I added on last summer. Trim, door etc. Shed has siding, so will never have to worry about that.
Yesterday, I cleaned out along the paved driveway. Going to reseal it next week. Supposed to be hot all week.
Repaired the shelves in the shed yesterday. Getting a bit droopy in the front, so I put braces in. Threw some stuff in the garbage too. Seems I can always do that. Have to look for electrical parts since I still plan to put electricity in.
Tomorrow I plan to take my wife and daughter to P.E.I. They don't get to go anywhere very often. Natasha is very excited to stay in a motel, etc. Betty wants to see Anne of Green Gables house. Going to stay away two nights.
Built another compose bin behind the shed. made it from wire mesh. Needed that for grass clippings and plants. Betty fills the others too fast.
Today it is light rain. It has been nice weather fot the last number of days.
I am home with Natasha. Betty and John gone to the store. Guess we need junk food for the trip.

Lost And Found

That title refers to an old frend of mine, John. We were stationed together for a number of years and after hrs. we worked at a bar on the Base. But when people get transferred, they get lost. I found his name on Facebook, so contacted him. Turned out to be his son. So he was lost and now he is found. We had some great times together. He really is a character. If they had reality shows then, he would have been a perfect match. I'm going to give him this address and then like everyone else he will know how dumb I am. Of course he might already know that.

Yesterday was very unusual. It was sunny. Gave me the oportunity to mow the backyard. When my wife was free yardsaleing the other day, she brought me home an electric lawn mower. Sign on it said it didn't work. Checked it out and saw that it dimmed the lights when turned on. Took it all apart and checked the wiring. All good. Put some oil on the shaft, which I think was the problem. Now it works great and runs so quiet. Looked it up and found out that new they are $300. My wife wants to sell it on Kijiji. I think that was the original plan. I'll try it out today on my neighbours back yard. Before it rains.

Rain And More Rain

Since the last time I wrote, there hasn't been too many days without rain. Last friday was a sunny day, so I took that opportunity to cut the front lawn for myself and my neighbour. As soon as I finished, it started to rain. Never got a chance to do the back of the yard.
This weekend was free yardsale weekend. Drove my wife around to see if she could find anything. Put my daughter in the van also, so she has an outing. She doesn't see much but it is something different for her. The yard saleing didn't last long as it started to rain after lunch. And of course it rained Sunday. Heavy rain last night and it is raining off and on today. Not much of a chance to do anything outside the house.
I have a Doctors this afternoon. A Planters Wart on my foot has to be removed. Don't know where that came from.

Back from the Doctor. I think I was there for a total of 5 min. Told me it was just a callous. Shaved it off and that was that.

Cut The Grass

May 29, 2010

I said that last Sat. I would cut the grass. But I didn’t. I waited till Monday. That was a mistake. The grass was wet and heavy. Filled up my green bin and the neighbours. Also half a garbage can. Garbage pick-up was in the afternoon. Guess what? He wouldn’t pick up the half-full garbage can. If it was in a plastic bag, he would have taken it. The bag would have been a lot heavier. It all depends on the person. A feeling of importance.

Haven’t done anything all week. Cold, windy and rain most of the time. Today is supposed to be nice and sunny. Time to cut the grass again. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain again. For sure I am not waiting till Monday.

Betty has to go for an eye appointment at 11:00, so that ties the morning up. Very windy again today.

Yard Sales

May 22, 2010
I did cut the lawn on Tues. and I did paint the fence. Actually my wife and I did it together. She is not afraid of work. My wife work ethic is I did it yesterday, my son did it two days ago and me, well I’ll do it today or tomorrow.

After that it rained for a couple of days. Yesterday, we went and got 10 more bags of soil. I thought I was done with that. Also bought flower transplants. She needed soil for the flower pots. Every time I see it on sale when I am at one of those stores, I’ll get ten and store it behind the shed. Then I’ll have a start for the spring.

In the afternoon I cut the sick neighbours grass. One of my neighbours asked me if I wanted a grass catcher for my lawn mower. Said he had three. One did fit and it was the newest one. Betty is happy about that. She doesn’t like grass on the driveway or walkway.

Today will be a nice day. We probably carry our daughter to the van and go yard sailing. She has to lay in the van and can’t see much but better than sitting in a wheelchair all day.

Have to paint a lattice today and maybe cut the grass. All that rain sure made the grass sprout.

Need That Soil

May 18, 2010
The plan for Friday was to get bags of soil at Wal-Mart for a $1.00. So we drove out there, which takes about 20 min. Guess what? No soil. Tried Home Depot and Canadian Tire with the same result. I also couldn’t get those fuses I was looking for. On the way home I thought the truck in front of me was making a lot of noise. So I turned off to take a different and found out it was my van that was making all the noise. Thought it was the alternator even though I had a new one 8 months ago. Called my private mechanic and got an appointment for Mon. morninMy wife saw an ad in a flyer for Canadian Tire and they had soil on sale for $1.00, Sat morning only. This store is right behind my house. So the next morning, my son John went and got 10 bags in his car. Later I went with the van and got 20. I was nervous about getting any more because of the noisy van. Spent the rest of the day distributing the soil. I think that job is done for the year.

On Sunday evening, dropped my van at the garage so he could have it first thing Mon. morning. I was glad I made it. John picked me up. He figured it was the steering. That’s what it was. And $740.00 later, I got my van back.

Today is Tuesday and its warm out. The plan is to cut the lawn. My wife would rather I paint the fence. But it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Then I would have to wait for the grass to dry. I may be able to paint some also.

Those Bricks Again

May 13, 2010

Another day. Up n’ at em. Make a to do list for today. I sound bold. Better check with my wife first.

Montreal won last night. Nice to see them beat the Penguins, even though Sidney Crosby lives a few streets away.

So off we went yesterday to the Brick Store. Have to get those decorative bricks. Didn’t like that place. They also didn’t have my bricks. Said that they were discontinuing that colour and they were all sent out to the stores we had already tried. On the way home I suggested we try the hardware store just around the corner from our house. And what did I find there? All the bricks I needed, right size and right colour. On top of that I got a 10% off for seniors. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Anyway, I made a few trips and bought all I needed. And that is the end of the brick saga.

Then it was on to cutting the lawn. Of course my wife wanted me hauling bricks every which way. Did that and back to the lawn. Now it starts to rain. It held back enough though so I could finish.

What’s on tap for today? First to the drug store. My second home. Have to pick up stuff for my daughter. When you are bedridden, you need a lot of stuff. Glad I have my health insurance from the military. I used to have to pay for a lot of this but insurance changed over the years. Thank God.

We donated a picture to the church and told them to get an appropriate frame. Have to go pay for that. After that it will be looking for paint for the fence. Then its wipper snipper time or mow my ill neighbours lawn. Maybe both.

Those Bricks

May 12, 2010
So the plans from last week didn’t work out too well. Got one of my fuses at Canadian Tire, only because it fell down among some other stuff. That’s all they had. Kent’s Hardware didn’t sell them. I certainly thought that it would be a lot easier to get them. Guess this will have to be an ongoing thing.

Not allowed to sell Weed n’ Feed anymore. Against the law in the city. Only lawn maintenance companies are allowed to use it. I guess we can’t be trusted to use it sparingly. Should be able to get it outside the city. And be careful when and where I use it.

We also didn’t get the decorative bricks my wife wanted. But she saw that there was a sale on bricks on Sat. morning. So my son took her there at 8:00 on Sat. morning. Guess what? Wrong colour. Those elusive bricks. Today I’m taking her to the place where they make the bricks. And if we don’t have success there, I’m giving up.

I found another bad fence post, so I’ve prepared another post and I’ll put that in today. Digging out some dandelions is another chore for today. And it is time to cut the grass again. So thats my plans at this point. We’ll see how that works out.

Yardworks

May 5, 2010
I picked up a small kids bike from someone’s trash the other day. Just what I needed. Took off the two wheels and was able to put them on my lawnmower. Took a little effort and extra parts, but it turned out well. Last year when I used my neighbour’s lawnmower, I found it easier to push when the back two wheels were large. After that I did my lawn, front and back.

My wife’s garden plot is 24″ x 4″, with wood all around. She wanted the wood 4″ higher. I had some old planks behind the shed, so I got out my table saw and cut them to the right size. Two hrs. later, job done. Now I need some dirt to fill it up. Was going to do that today. But now it is raining. If your plan goes down the storm drain, make a new plan.

So now the plans are, go to church, then Canadian Tire. Need something for the lawn and I want to buy a couple of fuses. The new ones that you just reset. We rarely blow a fuse but when we do, these will be the replacements. Then its off to building supplies for some bricks. Ornamental use. You can pick up bricks in the rain.

From Doctor To Taxes

April 29, 2010


Visit to the doctor turned out as expected. Going to get a prostrate operation in the fall. Or they may phone early and ask if I am free. That way , I don’t have time to think about it. The worse pain after the operation will be the first time I go to the washroom. Then it slowly decreases. Can’t do anything or travel for two months. But that’s not today, so onward.

I was nagging my wife to make tea biscuits for me. She said that I was the baker so I had to help. So we did it yesterday. Made two marble cakes, one cheesecake and tea biscuits. Notices my weight this morning was two lbs. more than the day before.

That was an interruption to doing my taxes, but I still did them. Now I’ll wait to see if I have some extra money in my account. Then I’ll know all went well.

A Doctor Day

April 27, 2010

Sliced off those fence posts yesterday. I was going to paint them but had no paint of the right colour. Have to look for a similar colour at a recycling place. After all its only a fence.

We had a holdup in the “Subway” behind my house last week. They say the robber got away thru the houses behind the mall. And that house would be me. There is a high metal fence behind all the houses. But I am the only one that has a large tree up against the fence on the other side. The bottom branches resemble “steps” to the top of my fence. I can see where he climbed my fence because of the mess on my side. So yesterday, got the chainsaw, walked all around that fence and cut off those branches. That’s the end of that.

Have a doctor’s appointment at noon. About prostate. I don’t think it’s any different than any guy my age. It’s just that I’m on the radar. I had a different problem last year and the doctor is also a specialist for prostates. So I ended up as a project. He is trying to decide whether I can use pills or have an operation. Once you’ve been made a project, that’s it. It has to go the route.

Sitting here yesterday, I could see out the window that a squirrel was making trips to my shed. Was getting in thru the vent. So I had to fix that. Always something.

Light rain today. Looks like it is going to be that way all week.

Darn That Twitter


April 26, 2010

It’s almost a month since I put something on this Blog. And I’m putting all the blame on Twitter. I put something on there every day because it is easier to make a fast blurb.

We had two weeks of good weather and then it rained for two weeks. My wife cleaned out the basement. This year, it was more cleaning out than moving around. Took all the old electronics to the recycling place. Have to find out if they take old vcr tapes. I think they do and I sure have a bundle. Looked like a good idea at the time. Now I can put 12 movies on a small memory stick.

Got two working lawn mowers and I have cut the lawn once. We are not allowed to use Weed n’ Feed here, so everyone has a dandelion problem. Got some stuff the other day that you mix with water. See how that works.

My neighbour gave me her woodpile. She has never used any since I cut down her trees and piled it for her. Not all was still good. Split what was needed, packed it away and will use it this winter. Think I have about five years of firewood packed around the yard.

Put in three fence posts the other day. There are a few every spring. Best time to do it. Ground is wet. Pull out one and stick the new one in. Have to get the chain saw out and cut them down to the same size. Might do that today.

Rain And A Roast Beef Sandwich

06:30 pm.
Yes, rain all day and I had a roast beef sandwich for diner. I said in my Twitter that it was better than snow and a bologna sandwich. PensionersRant happens to be the Twitter.

So I have an order in for new glasses and now I wait for Wall-Mart to call me. I found out that my last glasses were on 24 Mar. 2004. New ones almost to the day. Time passes fast.

Tried out my lawn mower the next day to make sure it worked. It didn't. Wasn't getting any gas when I pushed the primer button. Not much can go wrong there. When I put in a new gasket, I never put on any sealant. Did that and al is well.

I spent yesterday afternoon splitting all that wood I got from the neighbour. My reward for that is a sore arm. There are still a few pieces of wood around to be cut but I have to sharpen the chainsaw first.

As I have said, it's been raining all day. Same for tomorrow. Can't do anything outside but that's ok. Sore arm and all.

New Eyeglasses Day

08:15 am.

Remember what I said about bad juju? I had taped Trauma and was watching it last night. And the medic told his asst. that you have to put everything in the right place. You have to have the same routine every day or you will have bad juju. I told you this is always happening to me. Imagine something and there it is on t.v. For now its shave and do the walk. Then its a tryout for new glasses. Which I will do first. I know my wife will have other places of wonderment to go to.

Here's my Bio on twitter
Neither famous or infamous.
Chairman of nothing.
Not a movie star,rock star or even a reality star.
Perhaps a falling star.

And Away We Go Again

9:15 am
At exactly 9 o'clock, got a phone call that my lawn mower part is in. He was all buddy,buddy on the phone. We are of to a better start today. I will go there first. After that it's of to Wal-Mart or Cosco for glasses. That's half way to the airport. They used to be ten min. up the road but they built a new industrial park and the big box stores moved out there. Ruined the mall. All the small stores had to close and they ended up tearing down the mall. I very rarely go there so my wife will have to direct me. Supposed to be 15C/60F today. Hard to believe.

1:30 pm
Well I went for the lawn mower part but I took my wife with me. The trip took on a life of its own. After my pickup, we dropped off some clothes at a battered women's place, went to a hardware store for a lint trap, went to the supermarket for a plant for a sick neighbour and then home. No new glasses for me. That will be tomorrow's excitement. What I did learn was that my chore gets done first or it may not get done.

6:30 pm
O.K. lawn mower done. Works great. So now I have a $300. lawn mower and it cost me about $20. But there is something I don't like about it. And that is the handle. Its that double handle that you have to hold together. My hand gets sore after awhile. I would rather have a switch. Have to see what I can do about that. My wife is gone to visit someone in the hospital. So I have to look after our daughter. Put in her feeding tube and stuff like that.

A New Start

8 am.
Yesterday was the pitts. And I finished the day by doing something stupid. I went and bought a lottery ticket. Can you imagine that? With all my bad luck I had yesterday, I go and buy a ticket. Maybe my luck was bad yesterday because I started the day wrong. Normally I do my 2 mile walk. But not yesterday. Must have given me wrong juju or something.
This morning for breakfast I had coffee and a raisin bun. Not a Hot Cross bun. You make this one by putting two pieces of dough in a muffin pan. When it is ready, you can easily break the two pieces apart. I always had tea for breakfast but I found out that it gave me heartburn. So I switched to coffee two weeks ago. No more heartburn, not even during the day when I still drink tea.
Read this headline this morning. “Canadians advised against travel to northern Mexico.” I don’t think I would have to be advised. But again, common sense can be in short supply. Nothing will happen to me, it will be someone else. When you live in a country like Canada, violence is at a minimum, and you feel safe. In a country like Mexico, something can happen anytime. You take your feel of safeness with you and that doesn’t work out all the time.

6 pm.
What I noticed on my walk today was an ESSO oil truck doing a refill for someone. The first thing that came to my mind was that he was probably paying $50.00 more than I would. I get the no-name brand. The thing is that all the oil comes from the same refinery. No matter what company delivers it, it’s the same oil. Same with gas. Saves me $300. or $400. a year.
While waiting for my lawn mower part, I’ve cleaned up the mower. I’ll do an oil change when I get it back together. I have plans tomorrow to get new glasses. But you never know about plans.

Snow

Well, we’re getting our share of snow today. Must be a foot high at this point. But with the high winds, we have snow banks. But we have been very fortunite this year. We never got all those storms that the U.S. received. It was amazing to watch the weather maps and see all those storms go by us about 100 miles out to sea.
Since my first entry, I went out and did 4 driveways. One of my neighbours did four. I left my snow blower by the house because I’m sure the snowplow will be back. He was here while I was doing the driveways.
Watching the Olympics these days.

Try Again

March 15, 2010
9 am. Try again to keep this up to date. I blame it on Twitter. It gets all my sentences. By the way it’s PensionersRant
Toast and rhubarb from our garden for breakfast. The weather says 10C/50F today. I know this is someone’s else’s weather, but I don’t feel guilty. Wonder if this climate change is permanent or just a one shot affair. When you have six months of winter, there is a lot you can’t do. Everything goes on hold.
My neighbour said I could have all her firewood because she doesn’t use it. So I hauled that over last week. I have a lot of splitting to do some time this summer. Took my lawn mower apart. The broken one I scrounged. Found out it had a broken shear pin. Getting a replacement may not be easy. Not many places around that fix mowers. Most people just throw them out.
5 pm. I called a place to check out for parts. Said they had it in stock. So I drive for half an hour thru the city and lo and behold, what did they say? No, we don’t have any. Parts will be in on Wed. Give us your name & Ph.# and we’ll call you. O.K. did that. What else can I do. As I was driving away, I remembered that I had another name of a place. It was 45 min. from my house in a different direction, but I went anyway. When I got there, a sign on the door said “Closed On Mondays.” Can you believe that?
After that, I did the next best thing, I gave up for today. My wife had stew & french bread for supper. And I think that was the only good thing that happened today. See, you can have a miserable day without even trying.

Another Birthday

January 28, 2010
Yep! Another birthday. And that would be no. 67. That was on Monday. They say that I have a 50% chance to live to 85 and a 25% chance to get to 92. But time flies so fast, I should be there in a couple of years.
My wife gave me a multimeter (Broke my last one.) Glad about that. With my old one, I was only able to read resistance. My son gave me a monitor to hook up to my laptop. Love not having to minamize all the time. A friend of ours gave me a birthday cake, so I ended up with two cakes. And I had a number of calls and cards.
My wife took me out to lunch today. I had a steak and I was thinking, last week on a diet and this week I’m eating a steak. So it ended up that I paid with my credit card. Actually, we don’t have seperate bank accts. or credit cards. And it was something to joke about.