Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Wow, we had a big dump of snow over the weekend which brought to my realization that it's going to stay cold for a while.  While I enjoy recreation in the snow, everyday life and work is complicated and made more difficult because of the white stuff.  Oh well, that's part of the joy of living in a four season climate.

Race Day!

Our church has a Grand Prix with little pine cars.  The three boys all had fun designs in mind.  LP wanted a car shaped like a Lamborghini Guillardo.  He drew the shape out on the block of wood and I cut it out for him.  He sanded and painted everything himself.  Half-Pint had a favourite HotWheels car - a '65 Mustang - that he wanted done, but it HAD to be blue with a red stripe.  So it was.  He painted it all, with a little masking tape applied by an overseeing parent to keep the lines straight!

Brother KP went a bit off the chart with his.  He wanted a wedge.  Well, a wedge-shaped car.  And green - it had to be green... with a stripe.  Orange - no, a red stripe.  No, maybe white, or black.  Two stripes - but blue.  He finally settled on two stripes in orange.  He was told to quickly paint the car before he changed his mind again!

With cars done, we arrived at the church on race day.  Brother KP's car was fast.  As in "the FASTEST!" His car never lost a race all morning, and he went home with the big trophy.  He was quite pleased.  His mother beamed with pride.  (Maybe 'beamed' isn't quite the right word, but she was happy for him.)

The Pine Car Raceway - complete with photo finish gate at the finish line

The winning car and the trophy

Random Happenings

Brother KP scored his first goal of the season last weekend.  A nice shot from the hash marks of the face-off circle into the far corner of the net.  Perhaps a lucky shot, but he'll take it!  (He's #15 for the orange team - the Flyers.)

Deer feeders in the field aren't seeing much use.  I haven't had very much free time to get out hunting.  By the looks of my schedule I may only get 5 - 6 more days out until the season is over.

You can tell no deer are eating the bait when there are sprouts growing out of it!

Here is a lovely picture of a proud pigeon hunter.  Big Bill and Andy got out for some pigeon shooting at Farmer Bloomfield's.  I think the final count was 6 birds.  All of the cattle were unharmed!

Dinner With Friends

We went to Special K's house for a dinner party a couple of weeks ago.  I don't have any pictures of the people invited, the lovely decorations around the house or anything like that.  I do have a picture of the pan of dessert that Nate was serving up.  First you have to note the quartered pan.  It was enough to serve four but the girls got all fussy about wanting some as well.  Anyhow, four equal portions was out, so Plan B was to serve up small samples of the snack.  

It really is difficult to remove squares out of the middle without causing cosmetic damage to the surrounding icing.  But you're not dealing with amateurs here.  Nate's skill really shone through.

Note the names on the quarters of the dessert.  Can't understand why the women-folk protested...

The dessert did not come off the fork and flipper / scooper thing very nicely.

With the pieces of the dessert so deftly removed we needed to entertain ourselves a bit more.  Nate and I decided to test our drop accuracy and the impact resistance of the dessert at the same time.  This is what our findings were:

Accuracy - 3' drop test:  90%
Impact resistance - 3' drop test:  40%

The base of the dessert remained intact, although the rotation during the drop turned it upside down.  We feel that had it landed right side up there would have been more splatter from the topping.  As it was, the topping clearly separated from the cake-layer base.  More testing is required to perfect our technique.
Flavour was not affected in any way whatsoever.  Multiple tastings proved our initial results to be correct!

This is what the dessert looks like when it hits the plate when dropped
from a height of 3 feet!

A Hanging Bed

I built a hanging bed for LP.  It's basic design would resemble a drawbridge that doesn't touch the ground and the end.  It's about 21/2 feet off the ground.  It has a little desk area for him to do school work at, too.  Here are a couple of pictures of the result.

Almost done, just have to add some trim to the base and maybe some
stain or something.

I think he's pretending to do homework in this picture.
I remember faking that pose myself years ago!

Oh, one more thing....

I saw this hand sanitizer dispenser mounted to a wall in a new building we were doing some work on.  It must have just been put up because the painters were just a little further down the hall finishing the walls and trim.  

Note the lovely name plate mounted backwards on the wall.  

Fail. 

Fall Colours

"Fishing" Trip

We had the chance to head up to the Barker family cottage up near Gravenhurst last weekend.  The idea was to enjoy the autumn scenery, eat some good food and catch a few fish before pulling out the docks and closing things down for winter.  We succeeded with the scenery, food and the docks.  The fishing was a bit harder.  They didn't seem to like what we were offering - and we offered everything in the tackle boxes!

Lots of lures for the fish

I think this is where PK hooked a tree!

Everyone caught at least one fish, everyone except our fisherman extraordinaire Andy.  He was shut out despite three days of dedicated fishing.  We were very careful not to make fun of his situation.  With all of the effort he put in it was disappointing for him... but his wife caught a nice fish or two!  

The first fish - smallmouth bass

A nice sized pike

A fat largemouth bass

The scenery up in the Muskokas was very nice.  We had to deal with a couple of days of rain but when the sun came out it was great.  Here are a few pictures from the cottage and lake.

Dear Deer, It's That Time Of Year Again...

Nothing to show as far as meat in the freezer.  How about some scenery instead???

View from the tree stand

The sunset as we leave the bush

Thanksgiving Weekend

We were in Windsor and London for the Thanksgiving weekend.  There was lots of food to be eaten, so I didn't take many pictures as I was focused on the task placed before me.  We did get out for a walk with the mass of extended family that was with us on the Saturday in Windsor.  

We hiked around a nature trail and tried to lose as many kids as possible.  Sadly, we were not successful as all of them returned home with their familial units.

Random barn fire picture

Kids climbing a tree on nature walk 

Once we got home the plan was to take the kids to Fanshawe Conservation Area and check out the Pioneer Village.  I think we should bring back the stocks and public shaming.  Looks good to me!

 BCJK Fall Colours Run

There was a group of 12 Jeeps from the Border City JK Club that came up to the Bobcaygeon area for a long weekend to enjoy some of the trails around there.  We enjoyed two good days on the trails and lots of fun and laughs with everyone.  The Teacher came along with me to help keep everyone together and heading the same direction.  As it worked out, he broke the side steps on his Jeep.  New (stronger, protective, steel) parts are on the way!

 Again, on the way home, I had another wheel bearing issue.  And again, CAA to the rescue.  This is becoming a bit too routine on trips back from the trails!  Two new wheel bearings, everything should be good now!

Broken side step

Submarine Jeep - he had a damp carpet inside!

I like how the Jeep looks like a kid's toy in this picture

The Teacher's muddy Jeep

Loading up on the way home.  Got great fuel economy the rest of the trip!

A artsy picture I took beside a marshy swamp near the trail

 

That's about all the excitement that's been going on.  I guess the next post will be about some venison going in the freezer or maybe Christmas time.  Stay tuned.

Oh, one more thing....

Vehicle crash tests are valuable.  Crumple zones are good things.  Volkswagen Tiguan vs. transport truck = messed up VW.  Glad to report Dad is fine.  Well physically, at least.  His mental state is a little shaky but it's been like that for years.

         

School's In, Summer's Out

Days are getting shorter, nights are getting cooler.  Crops are beginning to be harvested.  Kids are back in school (where they belong!) and the routine of everyday life settles in just a little bit more.

The Last Fling!

We drove down to Windsor to see the Tall Ships that were docked there.  Andy and his gaggle of kids were there, and he brought Tammy along with him, too.  We were all able to hang around with the in-laws and wander around three of the ships that were moored on the Detroit River.  The old ships are pretty cool with their ropes and pulleys, huge masts, lots of wood and brass.  Not the sort of craftsmanship you would see on the vessels floating around the Great Lakes on a regular basis.  Well, except maybe for some of the luxury yachts and such.

On that same weekend we spent some time around Great Grandma's cottage on Lake Erie.

Anyhow, here are a few pictures from that tour...

Half-Pint doing damage to the local cupcake population

Note the Detroit Tigers logo on the top of the Ren Centre in Detroit

Rusty mail boxes by the park

A Tall Ship

This was not one of the Tall Ships, just climbers near Great Grandma's cottage

Nice tattoo.  That's hot!

I'm showing Elton (Ashton, Arson... whatever his name is) how to steal food from little kids

We also managed to get out to a local lake for a bit of fishing.  I have evidence that I was successful.  Andy said he caught a really, really big pike.  Strangely, there are no pictures to back up this claim.  I have my doubts...

My lure stuck in it's lip and dorsal fin

My evidence...  Go fish!

School Is In!

We now have three cookie-smashers in school!  Half-Pint is in JK now, LP in Grade 4 and Brother KP is in Grade 1.  It's hard to believe we final got rid of all three of them!  Two of the boys were looking forward to it.  For the other, September loomed like a great dark cloud of depression and torture.  That being said, he still doesn't like school very much!  

I was able to see them all at lunch time after the first morning of classes.  There was excitement in the two younger boys and a solemn resignation to his fate by the older.  Christine is wondering what she is going to do without a short and noisy 'someone'  keeping her occupied.  I'm wondering what she's going to do!  She will be BUSY, I know.

Selling veggies from the garden on the street corner

I'm not sure about the whole 'topless grocer' marketing scheme they have going on.  They sold a bunch of stuff so maybe they are on to something.

Here are a couple of pictures of a bird from a little zoo.  I'm jealous of his hairdo!

Oh, one more thing...


Jump seats are not for grown adults.