I Had A Mancation

Ruth went to Mexico for a week to see if we should spend next winter there or not.

I got to eat whatever I wanted , Watch TV until the wee hours

and wander around the house all day in my underwear if I felt like it.

I'm on holidays.

On sunday I had a friends funeral to go to.

Ruth had promised to make sandwiches so now it was up to me.

I started out making fancy round salmon sandwiches.

I had to be in town by 1:00 and I hadn't gotten dressed or showered yet 

and the sandwiches weren't even half done.

Panic time.

So much for fancy.

Now we're into Man Type egg salad 

 I'm going hunting with the boy's type sandwiches.

So I'm building this table / bar for our kitchen and the top is made up of two beautiful pieces of fir.

I needed to trim the edges so I took it down to where Carrie is the building engineer.

The city has a better table saw than I do so it just makes the job easier.

I got it set up on the table but had to wait for Carrie to finish
 laying some fresh ice between hockey games.

I think my little girl can do absolutely anything.

I've gotten the top all glued ,clamped and rough sanded.

Unfortunately I didn't screw it onto the base .

Not realizing how green this wood is I woke up the next morning and it was all cupped .

 Hopefully I can remedy the problem.

I've cut stress lines on the bottom of the table and applied some weight to straighten it out.

It looks like I may be successful.

We'll give it a few days.

Otherwise I guess I'll get a few more pieces of fresh wood.

I need a workshop.

I was so frustrated the other day while trying to work on a project.

All of my tools are in plastic bins piled up in a closet.

Naturally the tool I needed was in the last bottom bin I got to.

This bin system isn't working for me.

My beautiful 1869 Steinway developed a buzz in the new owners home.

I needed to fix this problem sooner than later.

They went away for a week and left me a key to the house.

It's nicer working without being watched.

This wire was buzzing on the post.

I can't figure out how it could move over like that.

Easily fixed. I just ground some bolt away.

Glad they weren't home to watch.

So Ruth came back home on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday she said Daisy was filthy.

I thought she looked just fine. She was happy being dirty.

I guess she was dirty. 

This is the second tub of fresh water .

She loves being fussed over. Such a nice smile.

Clean again. 

Ruth's Birthday Weekend

So Sharon flew in to Kelowna for two days and helped celebrate Ruth's birthday.

We had a great time. Lot's of laugh's around the table Feb. 10.

It was nice to sit around the table with the kids.

They've grown up to be such nice young women.

Sharon use to puff out her cheeks like this when she was a little girl.

I didn't know she still did it until Carrie pointed it out.

The little one's had a great time running around. 

I don't know where they get their energy.

So Carrie has been making masks lately for fundraising at their church.

These are a couple of the foxes she did.

Naturally we had to have a family picture with the masks on.

So the next morning carrie thought she should knock the snow off of the roof before it fell on Ellie who was playing outside.

I was watching her from the kitchen window as she poked the snow with a shovel.

All I saw was her suddenly look very sheepish.

I knew what she had done right away.

 I guess we didn't need that section of eaves trough anyways .

So on Sunday evening Ruth thought we should go to Mexico to visit Sandy 

who is there for another week. 

I didn't want to go so she booked a flight for herself leaving Tuesday morning.

She is the one taking the grandkids to 4H Tuesday evenings so

I inherited that job in her absence.

The kids had a great time but I was bored.

Carrie said to just play on my phone for the hour and thirty minutes

but my darn battery went dead.

I had just enough power to get a picture of Ellie doing her favourite thing.

Treats for Valentines after the 4H activities.

So yesterday I picked up the wood from a mill close by 

that I'll trim out the kitchen opening with. 

I'm just waiting now for a buddy to come over and help.

I also got two pieces of lumber that I'm going to biscuit together for my bar top.

It should look great.

My Angels Are Smiling On Me Today

I went to pick up some things up from our condo locker this afternoon.

Easiest way to get the items into the truck was to drive down the basement.

 So I'm backing my truck into my stall for the first time and decided it was looking a little tight.

I thought to myself that I had gone in far enough and should check to see how much room I still had.

I sure am glad that I stopped when I did.

So it's been snowing like crazy here lately.

Brad has been asking to learn how to drive the tractor so this weekend I thought it was time.

He did really good. Now I have someone to spell me off on snow removal.

Brad piled the driveway snow in a spot where he built a slide.

Jack's always up for a ride .

We spent hours outside in the snow.

Ellie was a little unsure at first but got over it after her first ride on the toboggan.

Daisy loves running around in the snow but we have to keep an eye on her because of the coyotes.

I keep her on her leash when we go out at night .
She'd wander into the bush if I'd let her.

So Ellie slept over the other night and climbed into bed with us around midnight.

By 2:00 A.M. I was so crowded out by her that I went to the other bedroom.

About 5:30 the security light on the south side of the house came on. 

I got up to see what had set it off.

Here Ellie had gotten up about 5:00 and was up for the day so Ruth took her outside to play.

Snow angles and snow forts were in order.

Ellie's wearing a head lamp to see what she is doing.

The next day I gave Ruth a lesson on snow removal.

If I play my cards right I might be done plowing the driveway.

I have two new apprentices.