The Day

What should a day be ?

To-day , was lunch w/ a fishing friend. We went to Very Fair Restaurant. somebody should have helped these people w/ the name
- I mean , they could have gone one better ' Good to Very Fair ...'
Whenever , I hear the name , I want to say , Very Fair compared to.....
This meal was dim sum or ' little bites w/ tea '. The ladies push the carts around and you point ( w/ me , hopefully , although the ladies kindly lift the lids to show you , cuz , I sure don't understand their spiel.
We had sui mai ( noodle wrapped pork mixture ) , har gow ( noodle wrapped shrimp ) , beef rib sliced w/ black pepper , rice and chicken casserole , steamed and seasoned green beans and ........... ' Phyllis Diller hair-do thingies............... OK a mixture of pork and taro paste rolled in noodle crumbs and deep fried ( be aware , I'm describing as best that I can , any contact w/ reality is pure luck ) Doesn't matter , the ' Phyllis Diller ' dumplings ( my name for them based on appearance ) taste great.
And lots of tea

Visited my Mom at the nursing home. Not the highlight of my week  trust me. The helper is a wonderful lady. Positive and since she has been working w/ my Mom , I look forward to visiting b/c there is actually someone to talk to.
G , the helper , makes contact w/ the regular nursing staff and some of the patients. she knows what is going on , on the 7 th floor.
She can help my mom w/ personal hygiene ( difficult for me ) and she has a routine for caring for Mom.
Trust me , I'm a genius for hiring her. not many times when I can take credit for something as good as this

Went to the bank to re-negotiate the QMH mortgage and discovered that the bank wanted to talk to me about re-negotiating Probably means that I'm done like duck and they know how to do me in.

Weather : 70 or close to , slightly humid and breezy - good day

Tell the World

Fell asleep w/ the earbuds in again
Woke to the news that - the pings heard in the Pacific were not from the  ' Mal-Asian ' flight that went down

The traffic coming into the city from the East is monumental ... then there were 3 accidents on the QEW ( runs the lakeshore into / out of downtown ) and the 401 ( our big arterial )
Monumental b/comes unbelievable - as in OMG , ' why do I do this ' kinda of trip

Weather in the ' big Smoke ' - nice. We  hit 60 some and skies are brightening

Last night , we hosted a dinner at Restaurante Tratelli. RT was once the ' Crazy Tomato ' The food at CT was excellent to VG.
The name changed ,  the waitstaff seemed the same ,the layout was the same and food was just as good.
I ordered the antipasto pizza on insalata , prior to our guests arriving
Someone ( M by initial ) questioned my choice
Until , the dish came Dino - mite   Flatbread pizza w/ antipasto veg and proscuitto , sitting on top of a fresh salad w/ excellente dressing

The guests were a cousin and 2 second cousins ( daughters )
The occasion was welcome home to T.O.
from Asia and Australia - 4 months ago
from Africa - 3 months ago
from Calgary - 1 year ago
This family travels a bit

The dishes were all reportedly tasty and plentiful
One note : my veal parmesan came on lots of spaghetti w/ flavourful sauce but ..... eating fairly slowly , I got to the bottom and ........ the pasta was still hot down there   Very rare that

To-day , off to the accountant for some really bad news - our portfolio made money - so , we pay .... lots , in income tax

Getting older

Well , apparently , not just me
The Stat Canada report has Peterborough ( nr QMH ) as the oldest population in Ontario.

Melanomas are on the rise among young people. This report gets coverage b/c melanomas are thought to be mostly preventable
Hats , protective clothing and sunscreen are basic sun survival tools , which are not being utitlized

Only 30 % of Americans , have passports.

Weather cooled off. However , they were promising cooler and more stable. We got overcast and doubtful

Yesterday , at QMH , a massive gardening blitz was underway
Flowerbeds , hedge  ( trimmed and weeded ) 
As well , the satellite TV was phasing ' in and out '. The history has been intermittent problems in rain and especially strong wind. Well , yesterday was intermediate winds. We finally ,decide to repair the base where the dish is attached. It was wood at sometime. I scraped sawdust and caulking off the roof. 
Yesternight , the TV was good , this AM , not so
Problem : the base is screwed into the metal sheeting ( metal roof ) and the deck or roof boards. Thus , there is a little give all the time.
I'm assuming the depth that holds the screw is under 1 / 2 in. Not the greatest of substrates for anchoring.
Oh well , ' all God's chillun got trouble '

2 coats

???????????????? what 

On Friday , I was sorting  out my Mom's closet at the TLC.  Bazanga ! There are 3 coats in the closet. I'm not saying  , the coats arrived overnight but between visits , yep.
I was stunned. In the past , we've taken coats b/c a coat would disappear. They came back
I took two coats to the Nursing station and explained. The Charge Nurse said that some other  resident was missing a coat - been there.
So , I brought 2 coats home and have them in the garage , in case , the coat I left in the closet is someone else's.
The coats all had my mother's name sewn in. Lately , as I've reported , clothes , labelled , appear in my Mom's closet. Mom's closet has become the ' Goodwill ' drop box of the floor

To - day , the second coat goes on the deck runway that I started on Saturday. This staining completes the wrap around deck.

Movie review : ' the Emperor's Club ' starring Kevin Kline. A version of ' Mr Chips ' - w/ a son of and potential Senator beginning his schooling at a private school. The story loosely follows teacher and student over 20 something years. 
I'm not sure how much , the plot has anything to do w/ me ( as an ex - teacher ). A bit of reflection ????? maybe , but I didn't get carried away , sweating it
I bought this DVD at the used DVD store for $7.
Redbox rating 0.7 / 1.0 

True or Not

catching a few phrases from TV - on the fly

" NYC is a great place to live ....but a terrible situation for raising kids "

" Why is there gold in the Rocky Mts of the U.S.     but non in Canada "

To the first , haven't a clue who would care
To # 2 , my answer is they got their first

Weather : warm to very warm and sunny

Mulch was 1 / 2 price so we bought lots

Thus flowers are in the ground , we didn't perform the ' bare bottom ' test for soil readiness
The BBT is drop your pants and sit in the garden. If your bum is comfortable the soil is warm enough
Our plants will need to tough it out

Regarding the downspout problem. I discovered yesterday that the neighbour hadn't seen the hole against the well casing. Looking from the front , he surmised the water was coming from my side.
As well , I realized when he mentioned last fall about water from my eaves hitting his basement window , it could have been overflow from his eavestrough.

Sat in May

To the folks , S of the GWN-   happy " Memorial Day " week end  , y'all

The boys of JHU ,could have been playing in the semi-finals to-day - ' coulda , woulda , shoulda ' is our favourite expression at poker - OK Bluejays , next year

Weather : super - duper
Bright sun , blue skies - promise of warmth

I slept better last night knowing that I might not have flooded the next door's basement - just b/c of my downspout re-route - or was only part of the problem.

To - day ?  We'll see
I'll let you know

Be Strong --   Be Safe

P.S. By the Numbers ( Time 2300 )
1. Leprosy  - no we're not doing this
Leprosy rates are up , India leads the world in cases and new infections

2.  The E.U. and especially Italy and Greece are receiving more and more undocumented ' visitors '
The Arab Spring influx of 2008 , will most likely be surpassed this year - not the kind of record that anyone wants to set

COAC - neither of these is an enviable achievement

Downspout vortices

Fearing disaster , last fall , I re-routed the corner downspout at the far side of the garage.  The norm is for rain run-off to go underground to the city mains.
Firstly , aimed the water out at roof level and down the drive
Splash or wind driven slosh hit the neighbour's basement window
COAC

Next , ran the downspout water along the boulevard between the houses
The pipes kept disconnecting all winter

Yesterday , got an e-mail from next door that his basement flooded
Oops !
Went out to take a look and couldn't believe .. but a wash-out hole formed against the casement for the window well - dug a hole right out

Last night , I made sure that the pipes were tight and reached up and into the neighbour's eavestrough , eavestrough was clear

This morning , before anything , got up on a ladder and found the neighbours eavestrough plugged at the downspout opening
this plug probably caused water to overflow the eavestrough and waterfall down on the casement , eating away a hole

I diverted the water from my side onto my drive

Water !!!! Problems , always

Weather : ditto from yesterday w/ a promise of stable  and warm this week end

OK Deck re-stained , ought to last 3 months ( ha ha , except not so funny ) The sun beats down on the wood and is brutal

Do you have problems ??? 
Dumb and dumber , if you own a house , of course , you have problems

Have a good one 

Editing the Editing

My pet peeve , the news especially the newspaper and TV but all reportage
To-day on " Q " a radio show hosted by Jian Gomeshi on the CBC , he interviewed a performer , who is doing a one man show on our Mayor Rob Ford.
Previously , the performer had been criticized for his Steve Jobs show where many inaccuracies were reported. He ended up apologizing
During this show " Q " , the topic of journalism came up and he used the phrase ' editing the editing ' which is how I see the print media absolutely and TV , only slightly less so.
Or as I say print news is ' spin on the spin '
Someone else chose what is news
And then paraphrases what he or she thinks they heard
And when is ' we are not sure of the details ' or ' we don't know much at this time ' , news. COAC .

Weather : warm , cool , damp , dry / chance of thunderstorms
Don't like the conditions - wait , it'll change

The water went up , 8 inches over the week and more wood is visiting the dock at QMH . The southerly or west - ish wind made it impossible to re -  launch the visiting wood.
I propped the marine rails , and am more or less certain that the boat will go into the water and come back up. The last part ,  is always dicey  -  the coming back up part.

The Week end in Sports

Coward !
Couldn't watch on Saturday , as Arsenal of London took on Hull City for the Football Association Cup. Good thing. The game started 2 - 0 for Hull , in the first 6 minutes.
Went out and did the drainage. Came back and it was 2 - 1. Worked some more , came back and it was 2 - 2. Of course , now I sit and watch - Arsenal scored in overtime ( not sudden death )
Happy , happy. Nope this is the Arsenal.
3 minutes from the end of OT , the goalie races out and misses the ball , Hull fires at the net.
A defender standing on the line miss kicks and misses the ball and the ball slides across the net and out of bounds
Gimme a break
Arsenal won. Whew

Sunday , the boys of JHU faced Duke. Turned the game on at 5 minutes and it was 4 - 0. It was 6 - 0 before the Bluejays scored.
Not believing in fairy tale endings , the Jays lost 19 - 11.

Worked on the deck , yesterday and went to Home Depot again.
TG its close

Weather : sunny , cloudy , rainy , cool

The ' 24 ' Week end

I'm not sure , but this week end could be called Canada's start to the summer
Across the country , this week end is known as ' two - four ' week end or Victoria Day
The ' 24 ' designation is supposed to be the date. As in the long week end is the ' 24 th of May '
Except ' 24 ' is also the slang for a case of beer. In the West , they don't use the ' 24 ' terminology

So , got to work on the drainage problem at the front corner
Recall a downspout runs into the ground and under the interlock and then out onto the lawn. The area around the downspout was slumping. I figured that the drainge tube was plugged or building up water somehow ( as in a low spot ).
Thus , I dug down and cut the draiange " O " tube and further dug a dry well. As I was filling rock and gravel into the dry well ,I picked up the cut pipe and realized it was weeper tube. 
Weeper tube has slots pre-cut all down the length. This fact means that water can and will leave the tube anywhere ( inclsuing where the sownspout enters - my problems area ) . Probably , the interlock is covering an area around the tube where the sand is washed away ( or the limestone screenings are washed away ).
What got accomplished ?  a ) there is no blockage
b) there is a dry well or place for the water to go
Unfortunately , the original problem is still in effect
Go figure !!!

Weather : cool but warming w/ rain threatening all week end

To-day , we attack the back deck. The stain or deck colour is peeling. Where the sun hits especially. I've been planning this attempt in my head for weeks. I'm ready to go. I'll let you know how this fiasco unwinds

HAVE a good'un

P.S. Johns Hopkins takes on Duke at 12 

Go Jays !!!!

By the Numbers ... NOT

No numbers , just words

World's largest democracy votes
India held elections , the process took a week

The FIFA World Cup is way over budget - bribes seem to be a problem Duh , like this is news.
These games in Brazil ( oh , yeah , forgot to tell you that bit )
are the most expensive soccer games ever

Weather : here in the GWNs ( little ' s ' is for south )
grey and partly sunny
temperatures will be in the  jacket to light sweater range

Note: Weatherboy at the QMH is broken. The outside sensor only works w/in 2 ft of the main monitor station. Thus , on the monitor ,
the temperatures reported are for the base monitor and the sofa.
Oh well , the outside sensor used to report nut-so temperatures b/c it was either in the sun ( high ) or in the shade 

The long range forecast for us , is a warmer than average summer Jun - Jul - Aug
Apparently , tho' its going to take us a while to get there
Warmer winds from the south are encountering a very cold lake system
Planting season is back - ordered by 3 weeks , I use the Amazon terminology , here
The dandy - lions are not affected by the back - order , it seems
tough little buggers

Finished reading a book called ' A Man Named Intrepid ' by William Stephenson about William Stephenson.
the W Stephenson in the story is a Canadian who is rumoured to be the model for ' James Bond '. Ian Fleming the author of the Bond series was also a espionage agent.
The book details the efforts of a clandestine group of Americans , British and others who fought the spy war prior to and during WW II.

Here in Canada , the Dieppe raid on the coast of France is highly revered but mostly as a sacrifice. The bad guys are usually ,the British high command that sent the troops over.
The book has a different angle on the ' raid '
Practice
Well ,that and politics
Practice ??? For every other amphibious landing in WW II , excepting Guadacanal. The Allied Command got to see equipment and men and techniques on display. The AC was able to verify enemy intercepts ( code breaking etc ) and slip in a lot of agents
These agents , often had life expectancies measured in days.

Politics , b/c Russia was getting hammered. The Soviets threatened a peace treaty with Germany. The Soviets claimed the West was sacrificing Russians to use up German forces. The Soviets wanted a western front to the war.
Thus , Dieppe. Allied casualties were measured in 1 / 2 to 3 /4 of all units sent. Disastrous is an euphemism
Churchill believed the Dieppe raid proved Allied techniques were basically correct. just needed some tweeking

Overall , the book aMNI highlighted the effectiveness of behind the scenes information gathering and mis-information dispersal.
For a Canadian , it brought into focus the role of Canada as a locale for organizing and training ,  and manning of the network.
Remember , we need all the praise that we can get up here

The Start up

So , it came w/out much notice
Our fair weather running to and fro from home to QMH
3 days here / 3 days there - wherever , here or there is
Sometimes it seems almost formulaic
Pack and run - pack and run
TG - we're retired
Otherwise this schedule would kill us

Trust me , its way cheaper than kids
COAC -anything is cheaper than kids
Parents pay for running shoes what I pay for fishing reels
but I'm buying reels every 3 / 4 years
Well , maybe a little more frequently

Weather here in the GWN
dull , grey and temperature 51 F in the shade

We saw the 9 / 11 Museum opening from Ground Zero
So long ago and so now
I didn't cry but it was close
Hard not to
The stories - I mean firemen running into the towers
they didn't have a chance
one worker lost his life directing survivors out of the tower

Not Strawberries....................

... in my first house , I specialized in growing strawberries and roses
Not that I did much but those 2 plants grew and I took some care of them

Lately , my unique plant is silver leaf dogwoods. I can grow these suckers anywhere.
However , it seems my other treasure is dandy - lions. W/ out a thought , the yellow heads pop up all over the lawn. They're even easier than dogwoods or roses or strawberries
I'm at genius level for propagating dandy - lions
Go figure

At QMH , the bulk of damage or flotsam is cleared.
Soggy wet bull rushes and pine needles were my forte
The ground is saturated and the stones and wood is all tippy
One can only hope the structural elements go back the way they were ..................  like growing dandy - lions
Ha Ha

Weather : warm but unstable and rain still will happen
The heat is on b/c someone is cold .... Crikey , put on a sweater
To-night , she'll have the A/ C running
Oops ! did I say she
Typo ! Typo !
I meant some anonymous person who lives here

We are home from clean up QMH

So , we'll clean here for sure

Left Overs

At the QMH , the raised river brought ' islands ' and wood - all kinds , limbs , trunks and branches. The islands are floating amalgams of reeds , branches and soil balls - but big , we're talking 1- 200 lb or so 
4 islands were making my dock home. We are in a back eddy and sometimes given the wind direction re-launching a ' new country' is difficult. 
At the amazing Lee Valley garden store , I saw a set of extension poles ,4 to a set. the longest will extend to 22 ft.
Hey , those poles could come in handy , so laid out $ 80
Genius. The poles are strong given their weight
I used all of the 22 ft to launch the islands and wood. The trick is to push the object out into the flow of the river not the back eddy
SUCCESS !!!
4 new countries are moving down the 'bee

Weather : sunny , balmy breeze. I wore a paddling wet suit and it was comfortable in the water
Oh , yeah , had to get in and wade up to my chest

P.S. The Black and Blue snuffed the ' hoos ' .  I predicted if Hop won the face-off battle and won more groundballs that they could win
WRONG
The Hop goalie Schneider did have a good day
I predicted the score at 14 - 10 , it was 14 - 8
Hop held the Va offence scoreless for long stretches
I predicted if the ' hoos ' run and gun , it would be a slaughter
The Cavaliers didn't run much and sure didn't gun

Next the blue of Duke , rank #1 The last surviving member of the top 4 rated in the tournament

GO !  Hopkins GO !

A Confluence of Things

The events :
1. A quote in the ' Women's First ' magazine by Wayne Dyer
" If you change the way you look at things , the things you look at change "
2. The DVD , ' Julie and Julia ' 
3. the movie / DVD  ' the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel '
3. Next door neighbour said , " you 2 have it all , Florida , the cottage and travel "

In this coming to-gether of events , the comment from the neighbour came first. Sitting and reading the mag came next. Although . I had read the quote before.
Then the movies ( $ 5 at Walmart )
The movie JnJ documents how Julie following Julia Childs ' Mastering French Cooking ' recipe by recipe changed her life
Change ... or how you look at things .... change

The BEMH , is a movie that I saw 3 years ago on the plane to England. In fact , I saw it coming and going b/c the sound was so lousy that I didn't catch all the dialogue. The story line has - retired or retiring English people economizing and adventuring in India
Summing up , you can either dive into the change or be swamped by the colour , noise and culture shock

See the elements all happened and collided over a short 3 days

Maybe its appreciation ... maybe its temporary
It probably is temporary
But my computer is always making a ' restore point '
What ?
If the computer needs restore points , me , too ? 

Aha , lets see how long this one lasts

Weather : still looking for something to complain about

To-day. JHU meets Va.... Blue/Black vs Orange
This game is part of the week end that pits non ranked teams against the teams that were given home field advantage  Hop travels to Charlottesville and Klockner Stadium.
Please recall Hopkins has an enviable habit of beating higher ranked opponents. Cross your fingers b/c the ' hoos ' can run. The ' hoos '  is a nickname derived from the war whoop of Confederate cavalry ( ???? ) as in ' wahoo ' or somesuch
Go Hop 

APPRECIATE

P.S. I tried the ' voice memo ' program on the i phone 4s
Easy. Nooooo. I recorded , check. I paused , check. I recorded , check. I paused , check
How do you turn it off , no check.
OK . the instructions , on line , they're saved on the computer

1. Tap the red button in ' voice memo '
2. Tap the red button to pause  ( notice I'm doing fine , up to here )
3. Tap ' done ' when finished  ( this is the ' no ' part )

Dummy !!!!!! You actually tap the word ' done ' on the screen / not the red button
alls well w/ the world , I can shut off voice messages.

TG

" Glo - in - the - dark

..... mini golf
The latest offer from Wagjag (groupon - type e-mail )
I deleted the advert   -  Oops , one of many missed opportunities in my life

Where ' Oops ' won't cover it
In Vegas , the Harmon hotel cum everything was declared dangerous. The Harmon could not w/stand any natural disaster
The Harmon comes down in pieces , no implosion - too showy and old hat in ' Lost Wages ' , Nv.
Everyone is suing everyone
LV takes it in stride , the city manager has the view ' we do this all the time '
OK. Its all what you're used to

By the # s
In the mag ' Women's First ( ? ) ' , a piece mentions dangerous habits that Mom's let slide.
1. Sharing cutlery ( oops , we do this all the time in this house )
2. Eating food off the floor ( who'd admit to this one )
Isn't there a seven second rule as well
3. Not washing hands ( well , since most doctors fail to wash between patients , mayhaps we can be excused

In the Torstar , by the numbers , is " the business of terrorism "
or how much counter-terrorism costs and 
well , chances of dying in a terrorist attack in the U.S. - 1 / 6 million
chances of dying from a insect bite - 1 / 75 000
* 400 annual deaths from Islamic terrorism = no of bathtub deaths in the U.S.
Sorry , I'm not doing the terrorism thing
The upshot of the article ' terrorism sells '

And , by the #s , Japan is shrinking
fewer young people, fewer births
the lowest ratio of young people in the industrialized world

Dogs are not picky eaters
Hey , I'm not either
Where is he getting this
In the Torstar , on the by the # s page - the article is " Fido's Environmental Footprint "
Dogs eat food that humans can't / won't. The pet industry uses parts of animals that humans down't want
Scary , b/c this is the good part of the story
I didn't and you shouldn't read the story
Recall , I only do the headlines

In full blown ' craps withdrawl '. 
Al from Seneca Allegany , the fellow I always talks to said ' I come 3 times a week '
' it would have been better if I never picked up the dice '

in my limited defence it is exciting
Risque , or something

Weather: this is a rough time of the year
You need to work very hard to find something to complain about

#759

Yes , this is post seven hundred and fifty nine
Why such a big deal
Dunno Except , I was sort of stuck for a title
759 is not a prime number

we've been married 27 years to-day
shucks that was the lead in , dummy

OK the title is 27
Not quite as impressive as 759
As in we've been married 759 yrs
OMG 
Hope M doesn't read this blog

Weather: booming out to 70 + degrees

Went for mulch  and sand at Home Depot
8 bags of mulch was nothing compared to 66 lb of sand

Hey , I get it , I'm not that strong but its this tiny bag of sand
the mulch is 3 x the size by volume

So , its beautify the tree beds. You see , the flowers are all in the rock garden - the trees are surrounded by mulch borders

Off to work .... I guess

SYS

Will you Still ........

"When I'm Sixty Four"

When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four?

Yepper , made it.  Siri said " I didn't get you anything " thats OK , girl. M would just be jealous anyway

Is there a song ' When I'm 65 or 66 or 67 - turns out that I may need one of those

For a guy who never thought that he'd see 13 ( Cuban missile crisis )

I believed all that doomsday clock business

Really , the clock was at 11:59:4 something

 Hey ,now I get to die from nuclear waste in the soil not in a bomb... jiggers fellas

I'm trying to imagine being out to quarter to 3 , as per the song

I'd be a total wreck 

Used to able to do it , now 11: 30 sounds late

BTW - Drove by Grimsby , 2x , to and from Ft Erie.. Never noticed before

To-day, need to get some sand to refill the front corner sink hole , TG it hasn't settled too much 

Hopefully , the by-pass water spout thingy did the trick

On gambling.

Al ,  the regular at the Allegany craps table. He remembers , the first days of the casino , ten years ago. in fact , Tues was get a commemorative watch day ( you had to earn game points during the day ) I didn't make it. At first , I was disappointed. Then Al said  ' How much do you bet ? '

I said " the min. "

Al said , maybe that not enough to get points

Then I thought ... TG , I don't get a watch

The maxim at the craps table is ' if you win a thousand , you could lose a thousand  '

No ,thank you

I'm lose.... 60 , win 60 or 64 as the case , may be

So , overall at the craps table , 6 visits , up 80 dollars

And it should have been , up 120

I missed a run , I couldn't decide where to jump in , when I missed the ' come '

or the first bet.

Back to Al , the dice man

Nice fellow and he takes notes

no kidding.. Al writes down the # s as their thrown

He mentioned that I shot very well Tuesday and he had the sequences that I threw

He asked , ' do you set up the dice before throwing ? '

Me :Yes

   Al : How ?

  Me :4 s up

           Al :anything else

Me :No

Al nodded his head and wrote it down

BTW , Al is a relly nice guy  You meet all kinds at the table

Some dudes give the impression that the dice ' owe you something '

Or to quote Sara McLaughlin  ' always waiting , for the break that will make it OK '

Oops ! those lyrics aren't mine at the top.  The authors , were the Beatles

Credit where credit is due

Keep your powder dry ! Have a good'un

2 $ a spin

Thats what I was playing at ' Triple 7 s '
The machine kicked out small wins until , it produced a 600 win ( pennies ). Followed by a 1 000 win. By then , I had doubled my issue ( $ 20 ). Quit..... play a little more
Spin...... noise , lights whirring and a sign flashed 25600 ! 25600 !
genius here , quickly realizes thats $ 256.
I look up and that amount was greater than the advertised 21600 - jackpot.
Took a picture of the machine

Weather : smokey and cool ( still in the casino )

6 trips to the craps table and I'm up $80. not super but beats losing

Running Through

........... sounds like diarrhea

No ,its movie lines , running through my head

Col Brighton : Its discipline that made the British great
Sherif Ali : Its ships and guns. The British go where they want and do what they want

What is this all about , paraphrasing lines from ' Lawrence of Arabia '

Back to the craps table , last night
first thing , nice fellow to my right , says ' would you believe that I was up 300 an hour ago ? '

So , two separate times ,  looked down and estimated that I was up 20 dollars at least  and said the magic words ' colour me up '
The pitboss counts and trades the smaller chips for ' colours ' usually , hopefully , green and blacks
Two times he said ' 340 something ' meaning that I was up $ 40

' Charlie or Sam ' , here at Allegany was talking to me and said ' I plunk down $ 300 , make a hundred and walk. You can't keep playing and win '
I'm not in his league. I'll take the forty
P.S. its now 1 PM , his name was  ' Al '
P.P.S. coloured up this morning for $ 363. Up $63
          Steve ( my left ) and I made 35 passes between us
         Thats good shooting - not lights out but good

Weather: smokey and cool ( casino atmosphere )

How's the Healing

The horrendous gash in my second finger , isn't. The slice is healing w/ minimal pain. The band-aid is precariously attached at the tip of the finger.

Weather : sunny and seasonally cool - slight chance of rain

The boys of JHU suffered a loss to rival and close neighbour , Loyola Maryland ( ranked # 1 ) . The Jays held the lead for 10 minutes and then the Greyhounds powered to the lead and never looked back
The Blue Js will likely make the play-offs. 
The youngish BJ s are growing. Considering the bulk of the team is soph or jr , next season is promising
We live on hope in BlueJay country

An observation : Basically , I'm trying to baby the finger , so that it doesn't split open. As I walk around the house , I'm noticing all the little jobs that need doing
a)  replacing the vent cover where the plumbing patch job occurred
b) stripping the wallpaper in the bedroom
c) scrubbing down my shower ( not fair , I've been procrastinating        for months , sad , right )
d) sanding the back deck, pre-painting

and the list goes on .... and on .... and on

By Any Other Name

an aside - I do work at giving each blog a catchy / witty title ... its not working, right ?

is it ' fallout ' or feedback

stop the bleeding , is first aid. The slice from the copper bracket in the overhead pipe jungle in the ceiling is stable. The cut still hurts and I use a rubber glove to shower and wash dishes. I think the patient will live
I wear long sleeve shirts for gardening + hat  +  glasses ( safety or sun ). I need the protection.  I'm just saying this has happened before

I needed to return a ' sharkbite ' coupling that wasn't used in the plumbing patch job , yesterday.
Standing in line , a conversation developed between two contractors about the return policy at Home Depot. They obviously had experience , way beyond me.
During a lull ( lull , how long was this wait , long ! ) I chimed in , holding up the connector in its bag and said ' greatest invention  for types like me '
Contractor # 2 "can't trust those things .......  I always solder  "

Should have kept my mouth shut. And , yes , I've said  that before

Torstar by the Numbers

Imagine , 4 years on, and the promised U.S.  housing for Haiti ( post earthquake ) is undone and over-budget.
Less than 1 / 4 the houses built and double the budget projection

They're always doing surveys or inventing ' global indices ' This latest is by the ' Social Progress Imperative ' ,a non-profit group

#1             New Zealand , in providing opportunity but no. 25 in                        GDP / capita
# big         Chad , way at the bottom

#16          U.S.A. - despite the second largest GDP / capita

#7             Canada and no. 2 in opportunity , 9 th in GDP / capita

100          New Zealand's score for water and sanitation
95.76       Canada's water and sanitation score

98.1         Canada's score for basic medical care
82.2         Canada's score for access to advanced education
                 - Canada's lowest ranking in a category

Remember # 7 for Canada is fantastic , our men's soccer team is 76 th in the world

Weather : ditto 
Partly sunny , rain possible ground saturated

So Simple

.... no , I'm not describing me  ..... well , not only me

The shut off valve for the outside faucet is over my head , above the ceiling and accessed by a hole that I cut in the ceiling that is 2 ft by 1ft.
Up there , are pipes that no longer connect to anything , natural gas lines and Bell telephone

On You Tube , there was ' Sharkbite ' , solderless connectors

well ,we did it this morning. 2 cuts and some water on the floor to remove the existing copper pipe and valves
1 cut where a left over bracket sliced my finger
little cursing............ but the pipe and connections snapped in
No leaks

We will celebrate
Job done , cost was 35 dollars but 1 valve and 4 ft of pipe are extra
The valve can go back

Weather : indeterminate  grey and dreary w/ a little sun , and threat of rain  Temperature , around 45 F

World Meds

The WHO has come forward w/ a report that says ' anti-biotic resistance ' has reached the level where fighting diseases w/ antibiotics may b/come impossible

In Alberta , Canada , the Director of Health has announced 22 cases of measles. As well , inoculation compliance has fallen below 90 %. This level of vaccination leaves the door open for rapid spread of measles in specific populations

Weather : we got fog and damp 
Temperatures are reasonable , really jacket and boots kinda of weather

For regular readers (yep , all 2 of you )
The Basketball team here in T.O. is making a play-off run vs the Brooklyn Nets. In fact , the Raptors lead the series.
The Raptor merchandise is selling out. One of the biggest sellers is a T - shirt w/ the phrase " We the North "
There hasn't been feedback from Timmins ( mining land ) or Kaspuskasing ( where the highway ends ) cuz that really is north