Category: General

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The driveway

I’m still having a few issues in trying to get the driveway fixed. You can’t find an excavation contractor to come in and change the slope of the driveway before September or October.

This leaves me the choice of not taking the motorhome out of the driveway before then, or doing something else. I opted for the latter.

I figured that, if I removed the pavement from the bottom of the driveway, at least when I scrape, I’ll hit something softer rather than several inches of asphalt. This meant that I would have to rent a jackhammer and use one for the first time since I was about 17 years old.

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The name is Hammer. Jack Hammer.

It took a little longer than I had hoped, about 3 hours of work, but I did get the pavement out. This took longer because it was 8″ thick in some places. I suspect there has been multiple patch jobs done by simply over-paving a previous bad job. Note that in part of the area I did, the asphalt was just laid down on sand, with no gravel. It isn’t hard to guess why there may have been a multitude of patch jobs done in the years previous to us buying the lot.

That being said, the job was semi-successful. I still scrape, even with extra weight on the front by putting the storage rack in the front bumper hitch and putting my 4000 watt generator on it. However, it’s a lot nicer to just scrape in gravel than the alternative…

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I want to go luging

Since the Olympics are coming up, I can once again admit that I have always wanted to try luge. I know, the sanity level involved in laying exposed on a sled hurtling down a track at about 130 kph may be questionable.

And, now, albeit on a small scale, I may get my chance. One of the college students is supervising the construction of a short luge track. I will be small, but I’m sure will function to get this out of my system.

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Top of the luge track
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The curve

Interestingly, this interest in luge does not apply to skeleton. Yes, you are exposed and still go at about the same speed. However, unlike luge where you go feet first, skeleton goes head first. And, some mental oddity makes me think that, if I hit something at 130 kph, it’ll make a lot of difference if you hit feet first…

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Hoarfrost

We’ve had a marvellous winter. Our January thaw lasted almost three weeks, with temperatures at or above 0°C throughout. In short, it has not been the traditional Yukon winter, although we haven’t really had a really cold winter in quite a while.

The advantage of the warm weather has been that it hasn’t been quite as dry as usual. My sinuses and hide are both quite grateful over that, by the way. And, another advantage has been that when the temperature eventually did drop south of freezing, we get a nice freezing fog and hoarfrost.

I like the way that frost and sunlight interact, so went out on the front step while the sun was starting to drop and grabbed a few pictures. After all, it’s nice to have an excuse to play with the new camera…

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Do the dead speak?

As we stand for two minutes of silence, we remember those who are not able to communicate with us directly because they did not return from their term of service.

But, even though we are no longer able to hear their voices, the dead do speak. They speak when you cast a ballot in an election. Their words resound when you wear a crucifix, or a yarmulke, or a kirpan, or a hijab. They are heard in every letter to the editor, or when 3,000 march to protest the hypocritical closing of the Veteran’s Affairs office in Sydney.  They echo when you join a union, a political party, a club or group of any type.

Do the dead speak? They speak every day. Our job is to listen.

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Quite the storm

Last night, we had quite the storm come up. It was promised in the forecast, although after little threats all day with nothing to show for it, it was a bit of a surprise.

Stormy skyFor about an hour, there was thunder, lots of lightning, high winds and heavy rain. In fact, 1.8 mm fell during the storm. Considering it lasted less than an hour, that was a pretty huge amount of rain. Neither Clara nor I can remember it raining that heavily here.

 

We did figure out something was coming shortly before it started. I was working in the yard and saw how quickly the sky had changed.

I must admit, this was probably all my fault. When it started, I had the sprinkler going, since I had held off all day due to the forecasted rain that had never arrived. And, of course, I finished staining the deck about 30 minutes before…

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A lovely day

It’s a beautiful day, warm but not too hot, a light wind, and sunny. It’s a perfect day to do some more yard work. I did fill some of the knots in the top railing of the back deck and went down to the hardware store to pick up some sandpaper to sand and then, prime them.

I also have a few other things to do. One of those is painting the shelving unit that was on the deck so it can go somewhere else, as well as painting some of the deck chairs I have been thinking of completing and staining for a while.

With the perfect conditions, there’s only one thing to do. If you’re looking for me, I’ve gone fishing…

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Fixing the deck

The deck was built in two stages. First, I built the veranda when we built the house. This was in 2005. And, because the veranda is more than two feet above grade, there were railings required by code.

I built the deck the following year, with a step down where the back steps were. The deck was built 15 inches below the veranda. This created a bit of an issue, in that the railings on the veranda closed that section of the deck off. So, this weekend, I pulled the railings off the veranda, built a new step along the full width of the deck.

I was going to stain the full deck, using the gallon I bought a few weeks ago. However, Home Hardware is completely sold out of the base used to make the colour and won’t have any back in until later this week. This screwed up my staining plans. I was going to stain at least the veranda and the new step, but the rain and other things joined up to keep me from doing it until Thursday (yes, it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.)

I also put in a new hidden screen on the back door. Now, I need a project.

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The veranda and new step.
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The new screen door.

The project I’ve chosen for the new deck, even though it isn’t stained yet has been picked: maple smoked lake trout…smoker

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Some thoughts for Canada Day

With Canada Day coming up, and since this particular post has been viewed several time through search engines, I thought I might run it again.

Doug Rutherford's avatarDoug Rutherford

I’ll willingly admit that this is one of my favourite holidays. I know, nothing holds a candle to Hallowe’en but, this is close. Because, much as we are governed by idiots and often, our leaders aren’t sure of where we are going or what the handcart has to do with it, we still live in the greatest country in the world and the last 40 years of imbecilic governments at the Federal, Provincial/Territorial and Municipal levels have failed to destroy it, regardless of how hard they’ve tried.

Living in Canada:

  • I can e-mail my MP and tell him he’s an idiot and a liar.
  • I can get really pissed at my MP and run against him in the next election.
  • I can join a union.
  • I can join any political party I want to (and, when you consider how wing-y some of those parties are, that is really saying something).

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More working around the yard

Interesting. There were two jobs from yesterday that I finished. The lawn mower is off to the shop. The mechanic also thinks the carb is full of crap. However, cleaning it is part of a standard tuneup.

I did offer the comment that, if the carb in my pickup (a totally beautiful Holley 4810C) needed complete rebuilding, I would do it in and instant. Dealing with the tiny little parts in a lawn mower carb, however, was a completely different kettle of fish. He laughed and mentioned that he was quite glad I, like many, have the same opinion. I get my mower back before the weekend.

My second leftover task was the mosquito vac. I cleaned the lines, but it still wouldn’t fire up. Today, I took the Dremel tool to the ignitor, in hopes that cleaning the built up deposits would make it fire. Guess what. It actually worked. Presently, it’s running outside and there are mosquitos trapped within it.

I also got several other tasks complete. The boat is one step from being ready to put in the water. I cleaned it out, fully inflated it, and dealt with the unsavoury habit it had of having the seat bounce out of the support straps. This leaves you bouncing on the floor of the boat, which is a problem if you’re in the front and more so, if you’re trying to steer from the rear. I ran a compression strap from each side of the seat supports that prevents the seat from coming out. This should make the boat a wee bit more enjoyable for those that don’t like to be thrown off their seat, or worse yet, over side.

I also got the old  motorhome almost cleaned and ready to sell. I have advertised it, but I was a few jobs of cleaning and removing the things that don’t go with it, such as the dishes,  removed. This is almost done, and one of the local RV places is willing to sell it on consignment. This will successfully remove it from my driveway, as having two 24-foot motorhomes can take up a bit of driveway space. I take it for an oil and filter change tomorrow and it goes to the dealer immediately afterwards.

I then moved on to the next task, namely, getting the inflatable boat ready to take out and kill fish. OK, that’s not the most politically correct way to put it  but, there you go. The seats are in and it’s cleaned out. All I have to do is put the motor on it and stock the tools (safety equipment, boat hook, etc.) That should take almost 15 minutes, and is the final tasks to getting the boat ready.  I did the other little job I had to relating to the boat. Since it’s small, and boat and trailer weigh less than 800 lbs., it only has a 4-pole trailer connector for the lights. The new motor home has a trailer hitch, but the wiring hookup is a 7-pole system. I took two plugs and a bit of wire and built an adapter. No, it’s not rocket science, and the local Canadian Tire didn’t have a 7-pole to 4-pole adaptor anyway.

Productivity is good. How long can I keep this insanity up…

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First yardwork day

The weather has finally turned. It was sunny and just plain hot, and I used the nice weather as an excuse to actually do some work around the yard. I had a number of projects planned. I wanted to repair the lawn mower and the mosquito vac, replace the antenna on the motorhome, rake the grass, water and fertilize.

Well, some of the jobs got finished. The antenna has been replaced, although that took two tries. I really should have measured the clearance between the cab over and the fender before buying a replacement antenna. I thought a 30″ one would work, but it was about 4″ too long. I went back and got a shorter, rubber-coated one for about $10.

I also got the grass done. This is the first time I’ve raked since surgery two years ago and it went well. In fact, I don’t think it’s going to hurt tomorrow, but that remains to be seen.

The lawn mower was not as much of a success. I replaced the gas, the spark plug, and blew carb cleaner threw it with no luck. It starts using the primer, but once that gas is used, it stops. I suspect the carb is loaded with crap so I’ll get someone else to deal with that. Taking apart carburetors that are smaller than an apple is not my idea of a good time. The huge Holley in my truck is one thing. A dinky little lawn mower carb is something else. It goes to the shop tomorrow.

I half fixed the skeetervac. It wasn’t letting gas into the combustion chamber and one of the lines was blocked. I cleaned out the lines and got propane flowing, but it still wouldn’t light. It seems the igniter is toast as well. That being said, you can’t order a new igniter from the company, either. Tomorrow, I’ll give it a good cleaning and see it will work. Hopefully, this will get it going soon.

All in all, I did decide early in the day that working outside without a hat wasn’t going to be a good plan. How nice was the weather, you ask?

ThermometerThis is a picture from late afternoon , before the sun comes around and shines directly on the thermometer. According to the news, we were the hottest place in Canada today. I did get to do my yard work in my shorts, although I’d rather not discuss my glow-in-the-dark legs. As George Carlin wisely put it, I have “phosphorescent Irish skin…”