Well summer is nearly over for another year. We had Ellen's aunt Norma out to our trailer for the weekend just to get her out of town for a change of pace. The weather did not really cooperate but I think she had a good time anyway. Mostly we played board games. But we did get out and see the country side a bit. We took her down to the Pearson Berry farm for a Saskatoon pie and jar of black current syrup.
And now we are getting ready for fall and there are still nearly two weeks of summer left. Like Aunt Norma I hope we get an Indian summer. OOPS! I said Indian Summer how un PC of me. Did you know that kids today don't know what Indian summer is. Apparently it is a derogatory expression, and here I thought it referred to that warm few weeks after the first cold snap of fall. I don't know why people call it Indian summer but I suspect that there is something in the lore that may not be too savory. We never learned it in school all we knew was the name. And because some people are offended that expression is gone too.
What will it be next? Dutch Ovens? For those of you who do not know a dutch oven is a roasting pot and not an oven at all. From the days when every thing Dutch was thought to be second rate in old New England. But who knew it was politically incorrect. I am sure that if I studied it a bit I could find any number of politically incorrect expressions that everyone uses everyday. And we better use them archaic and quaint though they might be. Before they go the way of Indian Summer,
Just sitting here hoping for that-warm-spell-that-comes-after-the-first-cold-snap-of-fall TWSTCATFCSOF for short, Indian Summer for those politically incorrect types in the crowd.
Randy
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I might be a redneck
If your dog and your wallet are both on a chain... you might be a redneck.
If you both use the tree at the end of the block when you walk your dog... you might be a red neck.
I have heard a great many redneck jokes thanks mostly to Mr Jeff Foxworthy but here's a new one
If you buy your wife lingerie at the bait shop... you might be a redneck.
Well it was at the marina and it was a nightshirt not lingerie but you get the idea.
While on vacation I went to the Sunset Bay marina to pick up fishing licences, a bit of tackle and gas for the boat. I did not need bait but I bet they had it. And in a side room in the marina store was a little shop called Jammyz (or something like that). And they sold all sorts of t shirt type nighties and bags and PJ's. So the wife and I went browsing.
She needed a new nightshirt anyway. Her old one is getting pretty thin is spots and it is very old. So we had a poke around and found her one that had comic dogs all over it with the slogan "Let Sleeping dogs lie." (The comic dogs relaxing in beach attire with the slogan "Dogs In Heat" was funnier but too mean since the girls are spayed.) So I bought it for her. (It even has a beagle that looks like Dixie on it.) Lingerie, sort of, at the Bait shop, sort of. So I might be a red neck, sort of.
Like I said If you buy your wife lingerie at the bait shop... you might be a redneck.
Feel free to use that one Jeff.
Randy
If you both use the tree at the end of the block when you walk your dog... you might be a red neck.
I have heard a great many redneck jokes thanks mostly to Mr Jeff Foxworthy but here's a new one
If you buy your wife lingerie at the bait shop... you might be a redneck.
Well it was at the marina and it was a nightshirt not lingerie but you get the idea.
While on vacation I went to the Sunset Bay marina to pick up fishing licences, a bit of tackle and gas for the boat. I did not need bait but I bet they had it. And in a side room in the marina store was a little shop called Jammyz (or something like that). And they sold all sorts of t shirt type nighties and bags and PJ's. So the wife and I went browsing.
She needed a new nightshirt anyway. Her old one is getting pretty thin is spots and it is very old. So we had a poke around and found her one that had comic dogs all over it with the slogan "Let Sleeping dogs lie." (The comic dogs relaxing in beach attire with the slogan "Dogs In Heat" was funnier but too mean since the girls are spayed.) So I bought it for her. (It even has a beagle that looks like Dixie on it.) Lingerie, sort of, at the Bait shop, sort of. So I might be a red neck, sort of.
Like I said If you buy your wife lingerie at the bait shop... you might be a redneck.
Feel free to use that one Jeff.
Randy
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Flying the Flag
It was Canada day yesterday. A time for all patriotic Canadians to fly their flag. And that is just what we did. It took me three days to do it but I got her done. How hard can it be? not real hard unless you want to go a little bit over board like I did.
You see a year ago I bought a flag because it was Canada Day and I like flags (although I think Canada's flag is a little boring compared to some) and I like it when people fly flags. So I bought a flag and it came with a 4 foot pole and a bracket to allow you to mount it on a building. Well last year at this time I had just finished my skirting on the old trailer and I mounted the flag on that. Then I up and sold the old trailer and had to take my flag down. There was no place to mount the bracket on the new trailer or on the deck as I did not want to try to drill holes in everything. So after careful consideration I decided to mount it on the deck railing. That part was easy the how to burned out a few more brain cells. All I had to do was mount a board on the railing attache the bracket and I was in business.
Easier said than done. I devised several methods of mounting a backer board. All very complicated and none of them that would not mark up the railing. I was concerned that If the railing was all full of holes it would detract from the resale value. Yeah like I'm going to sell the place! It will be in my will. So Ellen will get it but that is another issue. Anyway I still wanted to find a way to mount it without scaring the aluminum railing. Also the pickets in the rail are solid aluminum and more than not wanting to mar them I knew they would be the devil to work with. So I thought about it off an on for a while since last September. And I came up with a solution this weekend. Hose clamps.
I decided that if I attached hose clamps to the backer board and then clamped them to the uprights I would be able to accomplish my goal. But I ran into a problem. The spindles are only 3/4 of an inch or so and a clamp small enough to go on them was nigh impossible to work with. First off you can't open it completely then put it back together because the bend is too tight to get the screw started again. Trust me. I have the cuts and blood stains to prove it. So I had to go with a clamp that was really too big for the job. Now how do you tighten it so that it holds snugly. the Answer was Hose. If I put a small piece of hose around the spindle where I wanted to attach it I could clamp the hose to the spindle and voila. But can you imagine they don't sell short lengths of rubber hose? At least in Sundre they don't. They will sell you a 25 foot garden hose that you can cut down but that was pretty wasteful. So I looked around the hardware store.
Hardware stores are great places to browse. They have all manner of wonderful things. Most of them have no relevance to this story. But it was still fun to browse. What I found in my search was rubber strapping that is used to repair rubber hose. That was the solution to my problem. I wrapped the spindlles in the rubber strappping. I made the wrap large enough to accomodate the large clamps and that did the trick. With four clamps attahce to the backer board I clamped the backer to the rail and that did the job.
Oh yeah the backer was 3 foot by 10 inches. Now if you are thinking that is an awful lot of space to be hanging a Flag bracket on you're right. I could have got by with a piece about 10 by 10 but where's the fun in that. Here is what I came up with!
You see a year ago I bought a flag because it was Canada Day and I like flags (although I think Canada's flag is a little boring compared to some) and I like it when people fly flags. So I bought a flag and it came with a 4 foot pole and a bracket to allow you to mount it on a building. Well last year at this time I had just finished my skirting on the old trailer and I mounted the flag on that. Then I up and sold the old trailer and had to take my flag down. There was no place to mount the bracket on the new trailer or on the deck as I did not want to try to drill holes in everything. So after careful consideration I decided to mount it on the deck railing. That part was easy the how to burned out a few more brain cells. All I had to do was mount a board on the railing attache the bracket and I was in business.
Easier said than done. I devised several methods of mounting a backer board. All very complicated and none of them that would not mark up the railing. I was concerned that If the railing was all full of holes it would detract from the resale value. Yeah like I'm going to sell the place! It will be in my will. So Ellen will get it but that is another issue. Anyway I still wanted to find a way to mount it without scaring the aluminum railing. Also the pickets in the rail are solid aluminum and more than not wanting to mar them I knew they would be the devil to work with. So I thought about it off an on for a while since last September. And I came up with a solution this weekend. Hose clamps.
I decided that if I attached hose clamps to the backer board and then clamped them to the uprights I would be able to accomplish my goal. But I ran into a problem. The spindles are only 3/4 of an inch or so and a clamp small enough to go on them was nigh impossible to work with. First off you can't open it completely then put it back together because the bend is too tight to get the screw started again. Trust me. I have the cuts and blood stains to prove it. So I had to go with a clamp that was really too big for the job. Now how do you tighten it so that it holds snugly. the Answer was Hose. If I put a small piece of hose around the spindle where I wanted to attach it I could clamp the hose to the spindle and voila. But can you imagine they don't sell short lengths of rubber hose? At least in Sundre they don't. They will sell you a 25 foot garden hose that you can cut down but that was pretty wasteful. So I looked around the hardware store.
Hardware stores are great places to browse. They have all manner of wonderful things. Most of them have no relevance to this story. But it was still fun to browse. What I found in my search was rubber strapping that is used to repair rubber hose. That was the solution to my problem. I wrapped the spindlles in the rubber strappping. I made the wrap large enough to accomodate the large clamps and that did the trick. With four clamps attahce to the backer board I clamped the backer to the rail and that did the job.
Oh yeah the backer was 3 foot by 10 inches. Now if you are thinking that is an awful lot of space to be hanging a Flag bracket on you're right. I could have got by with a piece about 10 by 10 but where's the fun in that. Here is what I came up with!
And here are a few more details on how I did it. Now my sign is completely removeable and won't mar the railing spindles.
Oh yes the name, well we are Beagle people and it just seemed appropriate. And Belle and Dixie like it just fine.
Relaxing on my finally finished deck....
Randy
Monday, June 16, 2008
Jim's Curse
My friend, and I use the term loosely sometimes, tried to put the whammy on the weather this weekend. When I told him I had a construction project to do, Jim says "It's gonna rain all day every day this weekend, where ever you go!" Thanks Jim just what I needed. A curse to rile up the weather gods. Fortunately there were no gypsy relatives in his background so he couldn't put a curse on anything. He was dead wrong. The weather for a change was wonderful. And I was able to finish the skirting as you shall see.
Last time I estimated $100 in supplies well it only took $80. So I am already ahead by twenty bucks. I figured a two day job and it came in one. The step problem that has been bugging me in the back of my mind since the deck went in last fall worked out perfectly once I determined what I had to do. And I was able to use a lot of the scrap left over from the trailer skirting so I had lots of materiel left over which I was able to give to a friend for his project. (He offered to buy it but since it was given to me by the guy that sold me the original package with the trailer I thought it would only be fair to give it free to the next guy who needed it. )
So the weather made me nervous all the way out. As we left town Jim's curse was firing on all 8 cylinders. The sky turned black then wet. If someone passed you you could not see. Even with the wipers on full speed you could not see very well. And on the QE2 speedway aka Highway 2 that did not phase the morons a bit. They still were passing everything in sight. And don't bother putting your lights on just stay invisible in the spray and mess. Then all of a sudden the rain stopped. Bye bye curse.
There were pools of water everywhere and not a thing was dry but it wasn't raining anymore when we got to Sundre. But where I had to work was drying quickly. as it was getting the evening sun. So we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best for Saturday. Then in the middle of the night the rain started again. It woke me up and I figured Jim had struck again. So I rolled over and went back to sleep. What else could I do?
Saturday dawned cloudy. Thanks Jim. We walked the dogs and made breakfast. It was wet everywhere but the rain held off. By 8:30 blue sky was poking through the clouds. The hardware opened at 8:00 but it was almost nine when it looked like it might be a good day. By the time we were back at 9:30 it was nice enough to get started. I had the base in by noon. As I was taking the last piece down the dogs escaped from the deck. Maybe Jim's curse was back.
The weather was co-operating but now I had to try to chase down 2 beagles on a "Thelma and Louise" weekend. In a fenced yard they will come when called. In the great outdoors Ha! They were gone and as far as I could tell they were coyote bait. We looked for them called them but nothing. So we went back to work hoping they would find their way home on their own. They never got too far away because every so often they would get the scent of some poor bush denizen and they would start to howl. When we heard them we would stop what we were doing and try to find them to call them home. When they heard us they would quiet down. When they saw us they would grin and wag their tails good bye.
So we would go back to work. They would go back to "huntin' an' howl'n". As long as we could hear them they had a chance of coming back. And about 4 hours later Belle came dragging back in soaking wet and a it turned out a little worse for wear. An hour or so after that Dixie came home as it is no fun chasing yourself around the woods. That apparently is a game for two. Belle did something to her hind leg. It was very tender and she would not let anyone touch her at first. It was not bleeding or cut so it must a have been a sprain or a fall. All she wanted to do was sleep so we let her be. Just because she was hurt we still took both of them for their regular walks which on Saturday night was probably punishment enough.
We finished the skirting on Saturday night about 8:00. And the rain stayed away all day. It rained on the hunters which probably cut the run short, and there were thunderstorms in the area which I thought might have scared them away permanently (but didn't). So Jim's curse did not work. And when the job was done the sun came out and stayed. Everyone was home. Safe if not sore. And it was a good weekend after that.
Here is a shot of the guys taking down the tree last week.
Last time I estimated $100 in supplies well it only took $80. So I am already ahead by twenty bucks. I figured a two day job and it came in one. The step problem that has been bugging me in the back of my mind since the deck went in last fall worked out perfectly once I determined what I had to do. And I was able to use a lot of the scrap left over from the trailer skirting so I had lots of materiel left over which I was able to give to a friend for his project. (He offered to buy it but since it was given to me by the guy that sold me the original package with the trailer I thought it would only be fair to give it free to the next guy who needed it. )
So the weather made me nervous all the way out. As we left town Jim's curse was firing on all 8 cylinders. The sky turned black then wet. If someone passed you you could not see. Even with the wipers on full speed you could not see very well. And on the QE2 speedway aka Highway 2 that did not phase the morons a bit. They still were passing everything in sight. And don't bother putting your lights on just stay invisible in the spray and mess. Then all of a sudden the rain stopped. Bye bye curse.
There were pools of water everywhere and not a thing was dry but it wasn't raining anymore when we got to Sundre. But where I had to work was drying quickly. as it was getting the evening sun. So we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best for Saturday. Then in the middle of the night the rain started again. It woke me up and I figured Jim had struck again. So I rolled over and went back to sleep. What else could I do?
Saturday dawned cloudy. Thanks Jim. We walked the dogs and made breakfast. It was wet everywhere but the rain held off. By 8:30 blue sky was poking through the clouds. The hardware opened at 8:00 but it was almost nine when it looked like it might be a good day. By the time we were back at 9:30 it was nice enough to get started. I had the base in by noon. As I was taking the last piece down the dogs escaped from the deck. Maybe Jim's curse was back.
The weather was co-operating but now I had to try to chase down 2 beagles on a "Thelma and Louise" weekend. In a fenced yard they will come when called. In the great outdoors Ha! They were gone and as far as I could tell they were coyote bait. We looked for them called them but nothing. So we went back to work hoping they would find their way home on their own. They never got too far away because every so often they would get the scent of some poor bush denizen and they would start to howl. When we heard them we would stop what we were doing and try to find them to call them home. When they heard us they would quiet down. When they saw us they would grin and wag their tails good bye.
So we would go back to work. They would go back to "huntin' an' howl'n". As long as we could hear them they had a chance of coming back. And about 4 hours later Belle came dragging back in soaking wet and a it turned out a little worse for wear. An hour or so after that Dixie came home as it is no fun chasing yourself around the woods. That apparently is a game for two. Belle did something to her hind leg. It was very tender and she would not let anyone touch her at first. It was not bleeding or cut so it must a have been a sprain or a fall. All she wanted to do was sleep so we let her be. Just because she was hurt we still took both of them for their regular walks which on Saturday night was probably punishment enough.
We finished the skirting on Saturday night about 8:00. And the rain stayed away all day. It rained on the hunters which probably cut the run short, and there were thunderstorms in the area which I thought might have scared them away permanently (but didn't). So Jim's curse did not work. And when the job was done the sun came out and stayed. Everyone was home. Safe if not sore. And it was a good weekend after that.
Here is a shot of the guys taking down the tree last week.
And the finished product all skirted in,
And finally the view from the inside...
Now where did I put the mint julep mix....
Randy
Monday, June 9, 2008
Singin' in the Rain
Rain rain go away come again some other day.
It was wet again this weekend. Real wet. Noah wet. I think I saw animals lining up two by two. Ducks were looking for umbrellas. You get the picture. But my deck was dry! We had rain off and on for most of the day Saturday and until about 10:00 am Sunday. The fellow who put up my deck roof was wondering how the noise was. Frankly Art, the only thing that woke me up was the furnace kicking in through the night. The rain on the deck roof was not a problem.
But it can stop now. Or at least by the weekend. I have to fin sh skirting in the deck so that I don't get critters living under it. I have most everything I need except for the front trim and a few 2X6 maybe about a hundred dollars worth of material. There was one item that had me scratching my head. How do you skirt around the steps. Art's partner said he closed them in all around but that seemed a little fussy. So after wandering around the park I saw a solution that will be perfect. I will add a piece to the front rail of the deck so that I can go under the steps to skirt them. The extra piece will let me mount the shirting under the steps without having to remove them. It has the added benefit of letting me use small pieces of scrap skirting that would have other wise wound up in the land fill. Gee Green and efficient how lucky can you get. I'm sure this is all as clear as muddy water so when I do it I will take some pictures.
The girls don't like the deck particularly it is sort of a jail for them but since they can't be let loose it is better than being cooped up inside all day. I can live with the occasional accident on the deck better than on the carpet.
And what is on the agenda after the deck. Well it looks like a small shed for tools and junk storage. I have a storage box but it has a split roof and it leaks no too clever in retrospect. So its time to replace that. Maybe I will clean it up and use it for fire wood storage. It will keep that dry enough. And I will have a whole tree to stow away in there for a while.
I did not get to cutting it up this weekend. Too wet. I would have been dry I suppose because I would have been using my hand saw, a Swede Saw my Father In Law would have called it or I guess since my father calls a shovel a Mexican Back Hoe this would be a Mexican Chain Saw. In either case it is a lot of hand work. We will see about it next week.
In the mean time I have some shopping to do and some set up. And a little more clean up, and d a little more planning, and some figuring...
Waiting for the sun to come out and dry up the place...
Randy
It was wet again this weekend. Real wet. Noah wet. I think I saw animals lining up two by two. Ducks were looking for umbrellas. You get the picture. But my deck was dry! We had rain off and on for most of the day Saturday and until about 10:00 am Sunday. The fellow who put up my deck roof was wondering how the noise was. Frankly Art, the only thing that woke me up was the furnace kicking in through the night. The rain on the deck roof was not a problem.
But it can stop now. Or at least by the weekend. I have to fin sh skirting in the deck so that I don't get critters living under it. I have most everything I need except for the front trim and a few 2X6 maybe about a hundred dollars worth of material. There was one item that had me scratching my head. How do you skirt around the steps. Art's partner said he closed them in all around but that seemed a little fussy. So after wandering around the park I saw a solution that will be perfect. I will add a piece to the front rail of the deck so that I can go under the steps to skirt them. The extra piece will let me mount the shirting under the steps without having to remove them. It has the added benefit of letting me use small pieces of scrap skirting that would have other wise wound up in the land fill. Gee Green and efficient how lucky can you get. I'm sure this is all as clear as muddy water so when I do it I will take some pictures.
The girls don't like the deck particularly it is sort of a jail for them but since they can't be let loose it is better than being cooped up inside all day. I can live with the occasional accident on the deck better than on the carpet.
And what is on the agenda after the deck. Well it looks like a small shed for tools and junk storage. I have a storage box but it has a split roof and it leaks no too clever in retrospect. So its time to replace that. Maybe I will clean it up and use it for fire wood storage. It will keep that dry enough. And I will have a whole tree to stow away in there for a while.
I did not get to cutting it up this weekend. Too wet. I would have been dry I suppose because I would have been using my hand saw, a Swede Saw my Father In Law would have called it or I guess since my father calls a shovel a Mexican Back Hoe this would be a Mexican Chain Saw. In either case it is a lot of hand work. We will see about it next week.
In the mean time I have some shopping to do and some set up. And a little more clean up, and d a little more planning, and some figuring...
Waiting for the sun to come out and dry up the place...
Randy
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