Hello , Ether

.... assuming , this blog is rather anonymous

Our run of good weather continues , some rain , of course , but not enough apparently. The weather dude keeps saying that we need more.

The kindness of the weather pattern was brought home by our guest from the UK. She reveled in the sunshine. Firstly , she got more sun in 4 days than in fortnight back home and it rained off and on , mostly on for the 2 weeks that she was here.

Interesting when someone else points out the differences.

I watered on Sunday and then it rained , kinda thinking that I watered the lawn for nothing. Yet it seems that it was a good move b/c now the weather dude . is saying that will have to wait for more rain.

Duplicity. Not lying or cheating but computers. Everytime that I read about computer security etc. the one comment that appears is BACK UP. As in having documents and pictures saved in more than one place. Thus , besides saving important stuff on your computer , you should have a copy on a transfer device - thumb drive or external hard drive. I bought a 1 TB hard drive that I use for backing up. However, again , I read that a 3 rd copy is needed. The Source , electronics had a 3 Tb hard drive on sale for a 100 dollars. Please note that the 1 Tb cost $80 , say , 2 years ago.
Funnily , the 4 Tb Hard drive was on sale for $149 ( down from $200 ). I went cheap.

Getting the H/H

High Humidex readings , often come at stretches here in the s GWN. This bout is forecasted as 2 days, and terrible.
We'll survive.

I started playing around w/ the editing features of Windows Movie Maker. And I'm not very facile w/ it..
The video glasses , produces clips of an event and there is much extraneous footage. And most internet programs only allow about 25 Mb of content. For example  , one clip was 666 Mb.  Thus , I'm trying to edit down the clips that I shoot.

As in all things internet , frustration seems to be built in

The change - over to VoIP and the 3rd party provider is proceeding and there is little trouble. Bills seem reasonable etc.

We shall see said the Zen master 
He always says that

Sic Bo

see , you don't need to sweat a title for the blog
Sic Bo , sounds mysterious , sort of like a code word

Nope , a dice game at the casino
Oh ,you were at the casino ?

When you live in S Ont and guests come - Niagara Falls is at the top of the To Do List. After the CN Tower.
We drove to Niagara Falls.
Luckily M is the perfect host. She accompanied her second cousin on the " Journey Behind the Falls ".
I drove.  I parked at the casino.
Purpose : get free parking !!
If you park 6 blocks away , parking can be $6 , close to the falls , and its $20.
Play at the casino , enough , and its free parking.
I had a mission. Get free parking but not lose the shirt

Noble of me , right !  I found a craps table ( surprise ). My friends that shoot craps have some rules. Never play before 11 Am , never play in your own hotel and never shoot alone.
Sorry guys , I broke 2 of the 3.
I bet conservatively and watched the total outlay on the board and kept it to $40. I shot pretty well - looked down and said   ' time to go '
Its hard to leave when you're winning  - they coloured me up and the profit ( PROFIT ! ) was $88. I went to the Players kiosk and " NO " not enough for free parking.
Next was Sic Bo. Three dice are rolled and you chose a combination of dice to bet on. They offer totals as well , as in you can choose 6 or 12. The odds differ based on the difficulty of the combination. 6 pays 12 to 1 and 12 pays 8 to 1.
I made 25 dollars at Sic Bo.
Then lost it , on the slots
Finally , success Up $80 and free parking . Where's a hero when you need him.

BTW , if you think that I didn't experience the falls , I got mist on my face on the terrace of the Casino.

W/ Regrets

is usually the response if you cannot attend a function

here it is saying that I haven't entered a post in a while

The weather : torrential rain and thunder w/ some hail.
We caught the tail end and got big rain , some thunder and salt and pepper hail.

The cold front swept through last night and great conditions followed.

We will warm up over the next 4 days w/ little chance of rain.
We notice that the lawns are brown everywhere in S Ont.

For me , healthy i.e. no rash
Eating too much carbs as we are entertaining still. some excuse , huh ?

The weathervane was humming up on the 'bee. I guess its fixed b/c it worked great - swung around to point the wind direction and as stated spun its little heart out. 

I suppose my re - inventing the wheel phrase or re- purposing items could also be called ' ' McGyvering the situation ' as I heard mentioned in a film. This recalls and old series " McGyver " in which a resourceful dude - launched a rocket w/ bubble gum and an aerosol can or some such.

See , thats it for the post 
not much but ............... what the hey ! You've been waiting
haven't you ?

P.S. at a second hand Music store , I found the 2 disc set of  ' Snow Patrol ' famous for " Chasing Cars " a hit on its own and then a mega hit when highlighted in the ' death of McDreamy " in Greys Anatomy , the medical series.

Oh and movie reviews start to - morrow.

Glory - ious Days

yepper , the Father of Life is good to us

Warm but getting to the range of H/ H and high humidex.
Below is Brett Anderson's Long Range ECMFW modelling forecast.

The Airport Adventure

or life in T.O.

I'm not sure about other cities or other Toronto - ites ( we are called Torontonians usually , you figured it out , right ? ) but going to the Greater Toronto Airport is a adventure.
We are expensive - parking is min $5 and goes up on the hour.
The place throngs w/ people.
Getting there can be likened to one of the Tasks of Hercules.

The 401 hwy was stop and go for 3 miles which beats the pants off the 10 mile log jam that can happen. We reached the airport in 30 minutes. Not great but acceptably long.
Our visitor popped out on time . ETL plus 1/2 hr.
We flew home ( drove quickly and w/out hassle ) , flew was a figure of speech.

Weather is blue sky , some clouds and clearing up after a light shower last night.

" Brenter "

or British visitor arrives

We are off to the airport to pick up our visitor from UK.

BTW , our stock exchange is down for the fifth day - blamed on the UK vote uncertainty for " Brexit " or the UK exit from the European Union

Weather is halcyon. Blue sky , sun and cool breezes
To - morrow , not so certain.

Our furniture ensemble has a broken drawer. The plastic holder for the rail system for the drawer snapped.  Not new.
The first couple of months that we owned the furniture , a drawer fell as this drawer failed. I went to the company and the showroom guy sent me to the shop.
' Oh , you got these crappy ones - here take a bag of these '
Over the years , I've used all the plastic replacements ( 12 or so )
and needed to buy replacements for the replacements,
I went to Lee Valley , all purpose handyman and hobby store , and got plastic holders. Well , they don't fit the rail.
Went back to LV and another helpful server said ' you don't want this plastic stuff , use a wood shim and screw the rails in '

Next project , fix the rails by re - inventing the wheel or re - purposing wood pieces from the garage

Oh , well , same old , same old !!!!!

Fair is Fair

I complain like crazy about Bell and their charges. The new combination is Bell for Sat TV and TekSavvy for the phone ( VoIP ) and internet.
The skinny : internet is good / VoIP is growing on us but slowly
kinda neat using the computer to get messages
Bell , however , did something nice. I expected a bill for phone and Sat TV that reflected full month of TV and phone. The change over date was 3 days into the billing period for the phone. Bell refunded the pro rata charge for the phone
Kudos to Bell that was pretty decent of them

The total bill looks like it will be $ 155 for all 3 services from the 2 providers

Weather is magic high blue skies and 70 +  F / cool breezes

I was considering my pet phrases that describe my life or how I see it
1.  re - inventing the wheel
means I'm always repairing an item w/ spare parts or parts never meant for the job. At the Q , the weather vane fell apart. The bracket that holds the spindle for rotating the vane fell apart. I had the weather vane in cold storage for 3 years , claiming that I would get it going again. In a catalogue , I noticed the weather vane and tower on sale for $ 290.. Mama , for 300 , I'm willing to work a bit. I had several ideas bought some parts and then said " NO ' will never work. This week , I re - purposed some plumbing parts.
Thats the phrase - I re - purpose ,  a lot. This week , tried that parts and w/ some further re - purposing ......... Success ! Up and working.
Of course , I chose a day w/ 40 KPH winds and that sucker was humming away.
As well , I needed a plumbing part , and settled for a ' riser ' from a lawn sprinkler system ( $ 1.60 ) and Success ! Worked great

2.  Behind the curve or late to the party ALWAYS  !!!
name it technology , music etc --- late , late ..... very late

The Wind Changed

........... as it always does

The southerly winds bringing the warm and humid air was flushed out by a cold front. The resulting northerly winds brought cool and dry air. The temperature difference between Sat ans Sun was 20 plus degrees.

Much house stuff got done. Washrooms cleaned and many rooms vacuumed.

A Preview

... the week ahead

We get a visitor from the UK. She is escaping before ' Brexit '
Inside joke.
The UK is considering leaving the European Union. The UK never went with the Euro as currency. But lately , rumblings have produced a plebiscite that will determine whether the UK populace wants to remain in the EU.
The visitor is a second cousin or daughter of a cousin. The couple ( only one is coming ) hosted us and four others at their home in Norfolk , UK. We feel we should host one or can host one.

The weather turned H/H w/ the Humidex running in the high 30 s.
Sultry is the P.C. way of describing the air.  Muggy and eek ! will do it too !

ER

........... means many things

However , we finished re - watching ' Sherlock Holmes ' w / Robert Downey and Jude Law. SH is seen target practicing in his rooms. The target is the wall and the icon is ' V. R . ' or Victoria Regina.

Elizabeth , Queen of England is 90 this year. To -day , the UK celebrates her official birthday.

I have no strong opinions on the English monarchy and its effects on Canada. However , I do feel some attachment to the Queen. Its not only b/c I sang ' God Save the Queen ' for some years , growing up but she seems to have been around a lot.

So , Happy BD , your Majesty.

M's relatives will be glued to the TV watching the ceremonies at St Pauls cathedral ( ??? )

Our weather is settling. The o/v night low was mid 40 s F but our day temperatures will now be mid 70 s and rising to over 80 , to - morrow.

The persistent ' rash ' thingy is only colour , now but the usual plaque of itches etc keep coming. We are using the beta derm cream and the steroidal cream does work. My only concern is the constant use of the steroid. We are not taking large amounts but repeated use is not the best situation.
Thus ,we bought Benadryl anti itch spray as an alternative. For certain itches the 'dryl does work.

We went away to the Qmh and left the A/C on schedule w/ our new system. We arrived home to a house that hasn't gone above 69 F b/c the program lowers the temperature at night. The basement is close to a meat locker in temperature.

The ???????????? Post

.....silliness , really but I'm venting

Popped a Benadryl b/c the ' rash ' may be back. If this is a re - occurrence , it will be the lowest starting point ever. The 3 bumps are at wrist level. Normally , the rash thingy begins 4 inches above the wrist or as in the May event , the chest and neck. Yes , I'm applying the beta derm cream.   XXXXXX fingers !

The topic is dish clothes. In a brilliant move , I decided to buy white dish clothes ( for rubbing the dishes in soapy water ). These ' white ' clothes are NOT anymore. The colour and condition is disgusting. Yes , stain shows. I'm bleaching them and pre - soaking and then tossing them in the washer.
The down side to this is , betcha the coloured dish  clothes have the same stains but you don't see the stains as easily. This is the grossest thought of all ----- What you don't see.

The conundrum : to see or not to see

Apparently , mustard is a bad stain - stays a long time
Tea and coffee , ditto

There might be a good reason to buy white
At least you know whats there

Tale of the Rail

or the saga continues

Rain came last night. We are below the monthly average by lots.

Project Rail got de - railed. However , the rail replacement pieces are stained and ready to fit.
The re - painting or match coats can wait now.

When I Have Crossed the Bar

...... thats Tennyson

Replacing the rail on the porch was not a piece of cake. First , the blade in the chop saw is reversed. I was cutting siding last time and turned the blade around. All the wrenches are up at the Q.
I hand cut all the joints. Not a close fit but then the lumber from the last repair warped making it impossible to join evenly. We'll get by said the blind man.

Weather continues to be Halcyon.

The City Part

of the summer for us.

The life on the 'bee is one portion of our year but there is the regular house thing.
The garden : my take , plant silver leaf dogwoods , apparently , I do a great job growing these. There are 6 of them and the biggest is 9 ft tall and 8 ft wide and ' wood ' be bigger but I cut the dogwoods back. M says not enough cutting back - sometimes.
M does the rock garden and front beds. She has been diligently , toiling away for the week and is almost done.  Yesterday , in an attempt to feel useful , I puttered around doing odd gardening jobs and as well , lugged the mulch around for her.
I planted a ' Jeepers Creepers '. M was not impressed w/ my solo planting. But the ' Jeepers ' was sitting in it's little plastic sleeve , all alone. M said she ran out of room. I discovered a cranny and popped it in. You see if you're keeping score , which I wasn't - it was M 30 thousand vs Me 7 ( counting the dogwoods , that went in 6 years ago , so M calls it one )
I also, dragged the hoses out and about , measured the railings that have dry rot or at any rate are hollow , soon to be replaced.

BTW , I chose yesterday , b/c it is probably the only day that we both would have been out there.
Our household expression is that I garden w/ a chainsaw. Occasionally a shovel or buck saw but that about sums up my efforts re: flowers

Another feature that I've neglected of late. Brett Anderson's North american weather predictions , here it is

Latest interpretation of the ECMWF weeklies with additional input from current observations and teleconnections.

News from the 'bee

for  nu followers - QuarterMile House and the OtonaBEE are the same thing

Friends marked the pipe that sticks up in front of the dock. They did a cute job and the jug was bobbing in the current
WHAM !!! a floating island , approx the size of a boat , swept it away.
I went out and re - did the marker but not as cute

I tired to use the black dock float but it capsized or I did. TG that I removed the video glasses ( disaster there for sure )
Then I thought , its out , lets use it. I slid the sucker under the last dock section  sort of for flotation. and I got it wedged in there !!!!
Holey Kamoley , Batman , its a mosquito breeding dream w/ all the chambers up top to catch water.
Duh ! what an idea.
This morning , went out to get the black float out.
No way , Jose. Wouldn't budge an inch. Then I looked and said
" how do they put the decking on the aluminum frame. Clips ! "
Removed the decking ( 2 pieces ) and the black float slid right out.
Genius in action. Except , why did you put it in there , to start
Dunno

So , figured I'd waste the whole morning and launched the boat.
Official launch day was next Tuesday , but what the hey - in it went
Ran like a charm
Fished a little 
Came home

A total wasted day ,TG , I needed it