Cabin Raising

I don't believe there was working at heights training.  Tie downs on the ladders were not evident.  No hard helmets.  The work site shitter was a hole in the ground.  There was very little that was legal or authentic with the codes and regulations in OHSA.   The MOL would have had a field day on Hawkin's Road this week.  The conclusion though was one hell of a cabin built, by a hell of a group of guys.

The idea had been percolating for a couple of years, but it gained momentum this spring and summer.  There was a cabin that was needed to be built out at the farm.  Shelly new a few people who had had George Miller build theirs.  So it would be George who would build ours.  (Don't ever forget the power of word of mouth advertising!)

So the long and short of it was George and his crew would piece most of it together at the shop, and the dissemble and transport it to the farm.  We would have to prep the area, get a few tonnes of cinder blocks and concrete slabs, and provide some transport to the crew - I don't know why their horses can't make the 15km run, hell I ran that distance daily for years, but I digress.  

So ya, after we all did our prep, George and his boys came drills a spinning and saws a cutting.  They systematically laid out the perimetre of the cement and cinder to withstand the load and weight of the building, and with the efficiency and speed of a German beaver had the base done.  The walls were all pre-made, so with more muscle then brains, they heaved them into place and nailed it all down.  It less then 2 hours it seemed like 50% of the cabin was built!

From then on, it was almost like every Amish for himself.  One was on the battens, two were on the roof, another made stairs, one was putting insulation into the wall studs.  So it was a site to be seen for sure.  And really, they were the greatest fellers and so nice to have working for us.

I'll post more late = it will give me a reason.

One More Video

Lots of videos for some reason - I will contribute a proper update and recap with some current events soon.

Videos

Update

One of the main reasons I can think of for not posting in so long is I erased a whole lot of pictures from my camera.  I suppose it isn't necessary to rely on pictures, but they are good to include.  As a result I have a no pictures from:

A)  things around the house
B)  my sister visiting
C)  a fun trip to Pelee Island and Windsor
D)  some birthday stuff

Anyway - we are all great around here and enjoying a hot summer.  There have been lots of bike rides around town, a number of runs with friends, a few motorcycle days, I had a terrible cold and flu at the beginning of the summer which was very uncomfortable - again we are all great and just trying to keep busy.

March

We haven't really done too much during the month of March.  We had a week of discontinuity from our schooling and day care for Wally.  It was an overnight trip to Guelph to visit some friends, and just making use of the facilities at the YMCA in Goderich to swim and skate.  Despite there being little snow, it has been very cold.  Outdoor activities were few and far between as a result.

So there was a bit of getting at the wood with Shelly's dad, and cleaning up out the garbage in the shed out at Shelly's farm with a few dump runs.  As mentioned, a bit of skating and swimming.  Lots of music practice and cleaning around the house.  The common theme is that some of the days drag on, but in general a week's holiday goes very quickly. 

 The Dame's Rocket played at the Lucknow Legion on St. Patrick's Day...  There are no pictures from this year's set, but they looked and sounded as good as ever. 

 The kids got in and had a visit with their great grandmother who is also sounding and looking as good as ever.  If you reversed the numbers on Wally's shirt, and added a few numbers, you'd get to her age!  So yes, looking great indeed.

Zurich Has Beans Tournament

These Old Timer's hockey tournaments can be quite fun, but sadly repetitive too.  It is the same good teams that win and the same teams that lose.  It is the same amount of Bud Lite beer.  It is the same anger that some speed bag lashes out during some game because ?????  and wants to take it one step further.  Every small community in Canada must have tournaments like these.  The surrounding towns about 75km away all load up on glory day superstars, and also just about anyone else who is able to show up.  There are some good, smooth players.  And some hacks.  So I got the call once again to make the 40km drive south to the annual Zurich Has'Beans old timer's hockey tournament with the River Rat motley crew.  Sort of the same group of guys I played with just 2 weeks ago.

I haven't been playing steadily at all over the past 3 or 4 years.  All but 3 or 4 games, in one weekend, in each of the past 3 or 4 years.  That is not a lot.  But having had a few games under my feet in the past 2 weeks, I thought I was up to the challenge of another.  I don't know if I am asked for any particular reason.  I am not very skilled or adept at the game, but whatever.  I at least show up, pay my money to play, and make some reasonably lucky plays along the way.  Shelly watched one game this weekend and said I "hustled".  That sounds just about right. 

The first game we played with 12 players and won.  The second game we played with 10 players and lost.  Finally, and still in the first day, we played the third game and lost again with 9 players.  This goes from 9:00 am, to 1:00 pm, and the final game started at 8:00.  But I am feeling all right.  I am able to sustain a good amount of physical activity because of the running....  Each game got tougher opponents, combined with less players, and the recipe isn't so good.  However it was fun.  If anything we displayed a high level of sportsmanship as we didn't even get a penalty!  But we didn't score much either.

There were 12 teams in the tournament.  Each team plays 3 games.  There is a math algorithm fitting for a university course, to decide who plays who during everyone's fourth game.  This was decided with a point system of adding numbers attributed to period wins, losses, ties, games won and tied, goals scored and goals against.  We were the 11th team, as it was, after 3 games.  The team we beat during the 9:00 am game would be the 12th.  So it would be one more game on Sunday for just a sliver of pride.  The most minuscule of self worth one could hope for.

We lost that game 4-2. 

But the weather was wonderful.  Shelly and the kids came to the fourth game and Molly really thinks I am a superstar on the ice.  I mean really.  If it was anything else I'd tell her some white lies and embellish my past exploits on ice.  I swear I haven't and will never!  Truth be told it is just house lead hockey for the most part. 

But there was, of course, a token set of playground equipment at the arena and the kids were equally keen to be on the swings and on the climbers. 

 

Untitled

I wish I had some pictures from a few weeks ago.  Joel and I played in the Oldtimer's Ice Hockey Tournament in Goderich.  We had a pretty good time; a win, a loss and a tie to miss out of a final fourth game.  The last time I played hockey with Joel was back in 2011 when we were living in Rossland.  I think that was one of the first years Joel even played hockey.  He got into the game much later in life, and has dramatically improved from those awesome days on the outdoor rink.  But anyway a team was scratched together by randomly opening an early 90s GDCI high school year book and picking someone on the page. 

It was lots of fun.  The age group starts at 35 to play in the tournament.  So there are a few people who are less then 40, many who are in their 40s, and then some even older then that.  There were 16 teams in 4 divisions.  We were in the second most competitive.  Given our record, we weren't the best, nor were we the worst.  But next time I'll have to get some pictures for sure.

Not much else is going on.  All of the snow has melted, but the weather reporter said not to get to excited for spring as snow and cold weather is still on its way.  But it really seems unusual to have such fluctuating weather. 

I switched up the front grill on my truck for something to do.  The instructions promised this was the easiest of easy things to do, so I choose this task.  Sure enough and true to form I could not get the old grill off the truck despite only having to unscrew two screws and remove two tabs.  By and by I got it....  I think it is a bit of a cha-chi move to post pictures about and to write about, but I do think the new one looks kind of cooler and better.

Old:

Halfway There:

 And Finished:

I don't know, maybe it looks kind of stupid still?  I've read that the original grill, the top picture, looks like someone wearing braces.  The funny thing, I think, about it is I order it from a knock-off vender in Asia.  The grill is as unauthentic as a Chibson Guitar.  It isn't Toyota OEM, especially at its price.  It was quite inexpensive.  But it fit!  It works.  I can't help but think "TOYOTA" isn't spelled correctly or something.  But all the holes lined up and it snapped into place.  This was supposed to be a spring project, but since the weather is so nice, I decided to get it done while the sun was shining.