frantic post
Okay, I quickly have to make a post. Why, you ask? Well, this afternoon I'm heading down to spend a day or two with the folks and such. If I blog now, hopefully no one will have checked my blog by the time I get there and when I'm inevitably chided for my unbloggedness of late, I can sit back and not feel in any way guilty. That's the plan; but as we know, the best laid plans...
Someone is heading down with her kids and wanted an extra driver. So hey, it's a free trip, even if I'm gone only two days or so.
Anyway. I guess now I have to write something of note. I introduce several new words and compound words in this blog, so take heed Webster's.
Well, Winterlude has ended and we pretty much ignored the whole to-do. Except Sunday night. We and some friends stopped by the ice sculpture place downtown to see what the big deal was. Unfortunately it had been a day of frozen rain so the park where the sculptures were was closed. Well, more like ribboned off with a couple of security guards walking around. Fortunately it was easy enough to sneak in... especially when other people in front of us set the precedent. Unfortunately we weren't wearing ninja outfits or ski masks so the security guards saw us. Fortunately security guards are way underpaid and have no weapons or authority. Unfortunately the ribbon-putter-uppers may have had some wisdom, seeing as the ground was very slick indeed. Fortunately we're not the kind of people who sue when we break legs from slipping. Unfortunately that reasoning doesn't fly with the security guards, so after only a couple of pictures we left.
Yes, I ramble. Get over it. I took a few pictures but night time combined with my utter ineptitude for manual settings made for mostly lousy shots. Here are a couple that sort of worked out.
Of our friends in church, one particular couple is not like us in any way. He's 6'6" and she's about a foot shorter; his parents live in Vineland area, her parents live out west; he loves snowboarding, she tolerates it but is tempted to prefer skiing. Uh, well okay so they're a little bit the same. But there it ends. They live waaaaay out of Ottawa on a hobby farm. They have a pile of sheep, one llama, and a bunch of dachshunds for breeding. We went to their place a couple of Sundays ago. They're expecting a whole slew of lambs to be born right around now. I caught a couple on film, which is surprisingly hard since they like to scamper and their moms like to shield them from ominous characters such as myself. Here's some animally pics.
I went to the manse last Saturday to help rip apart the ensuite bathroom. Now that it's (somewhat) vacant, there's opportunity to do some much-needed renovations. There were three of us there, none of whom claim to be professional plumbers or tile ripper-outers or etc. Especially now... You see, we took the tiles and the drywall off the shower stall walls and managed to mostly work around the tub faucet. But at one point, an attempt was made to minimize the amount of fixturage around which to work, so the faucet knob and its screw came off as well as a threaded collar. A wise one in our midst decided that everything should be safe provided we be gentle and don't jar anything (this said while we all brandish hammers and have crazed gleams in our eyes). So a few minutes later, without any warning the faucet mechanism gave way and one guy standing in the tub was hit dead on by a horizontal and rather high-pressure stream of water. Amazing how quiet and composed things were, apart from the spectacular sound of the water hitting (once the wet guy, after a delayed reaction, left the tub) the wall, which was of course devoid of all tile or drywall covering.
It took a full three minutes to find the water shutoff in a house unfamiliar to all. Mr. Soaking Wet borrowed a pair of jeans a tad diminutive for his frame; he was politely reminded how he'd fit right in with a mullet and minus two decades.
Plumbing lesson learned. Fortunately the sprayed wall had some plastic and insulation so it could have been worse. A big "you're welcome" to those involved for not mentioning any names :).
