Wie Geht’s? Make Your Day Pest-Free! 🐭

You getz - who cares

We are the pest capital of the street. Let s see : hornets ( 2 X ), brown ants, black ants < multiple eradications and mice. The pest control guy, Carlo says that b/c of the ravine in our backyard we are destination #1 for the critters.

Today, was solve drainage problems. Like usual, some success and some not so success. For the west downspout, the big ' O ' tube goes under the interlock and down the lawn. It was plugged up and the water came gushing out of the pipe in the ground next to the house wall < not good > and drains down to the foundation.

I found a ' Y ' connector - some genius put in, why ? Dunno - that will allow a vent to let the water bubble out onto the lawn < mostly >. Good.

There is a blockage down the lawn but I couldn't find the ' O ' tube to clear the blockage. Make do w/ the release vent.

The other side, needed a disconnect to stop water undercutting the interlock on the boulevard. Not great but a minor solve

Having a nut brown ale to drown my sorrow

" All my trials " or some such

Winter Ale in July

Wrong !

I purchased Winter Ale at the Ont Liquor store. Opened the bottle and ' whoosh ' half the bottle erupted onto the counter.

Wrote the Brewer and got a response ' How did you get Winter Ale < it expired 8 months ago >. The sugars settled and the molecules weren't happy - whoosh ! ( I made that up but it was some similar explanation )

We are following up w/ emails

Will I get a refund ?

Weather is summery. Not as humid but ' this is Toronto ' and yick is normal this time of year.

Find 100s of New Arrivals! 👀

from Lehman s

We were fishing and repairing or maintaining the outboard

Success. I guess - we both lost a big fish
The engine ran a little better

However, I changed the clamps from one time use types to re - useable ones
Nuts ! single use clamps on a fuel filter that you change yearly ???

Make Your Kitchen Shine with Our Best Cloths, Aprons and Scrubbers ✨

Oh, boy - oh, joy

Right - e - o ! Let's clean for fun

Of note, the humidity and high temperatures is supposed to break today. The word ' seasonal ' has been used in forecasts.

At least, I poured pickling vinegar in the toilet to breakdown the scum ring. I've been reading about vinegar and Dawn < supposedly slightly acidic > to help clean grout.
There's a morning pick me up thought - let's clean grout. Well, I did discover that you need a grout brush to do grout scrubbing.

And this morning. Home Depot was a stop for possible fixes for a drainage problem < there is a sinkhole in the right boulevard of the drive >
Then I got to move 9 wheelbarrows < my size wheelbarrows > of fill for the sinkhole. The neighbour s re - design produced extra limestone.
He gave it to me < I'd asked before >
And there was humidity or lots of sweat from me.

Simple Living Sunday: Rediscovering Traditions 👍

cheating !
Yesterday s banner

Up at 5 - stayed awake
Yesterday, 4:30 AM took a Gravol < sea sickness / nausea pill > to sleep. Oops ! Groggy all morning

I'll try and sleep a little

Just dozed a bit

From Lehman s :  Hi friend! Most of our canned meats are out of stock BUT this is how you can still get some. Order now and we'll put you in a queue. As soon as we get stock, we ship orders out on a first-come, first-served basis. Typically you’ll receive your order in 4-6 weeks and you can cancel at any time.

When it rains, it pours
Morton s salt, motto

Today. it was. Buckets of the stuff

Hanging On

Global Warming ?
If you ask us, its more like ' global humidity '

We are not strangers to Hot and Sticky but htis trend has been off and on mostly on for 3 weeks

Boy, can we complain. Alive and well, thats the ticket

Reminiscing about travel, especially England. Just this morning,   the thought popped into my head ' I wonder how Bath, Somerset is doing ? ' b/c as in many places around the world - definitely tourist dependent.
and we are not going to be there

Such a thing as a miracle < non religious >
Apparently, there is Sea Foam thats been around for 70 yrs. In the engine oil , fuel system, it cleans out gunk biuld up < thats official wording from the experts >. Halay - lu - ya or close

The 75 HP outboard is showing signs of not being properly serviced. Imagine !
Someone < knowledgeble > suggested octane boost and fuel stabilizer
Ha Ha, all in one < kinda > called Sea Foam
Stay tuned for next week s follow up and whine session

Preserve Your Food Because You Can 🍎

and stock up for Fall ?

The new phone report. Like getting Xmas in July
Mine makes noise, like a signal something happened.
What ?
Dunno, typical. Still experimenting.
Then the updates. Three so far. But not the biggie which is called Android 10 < promised,  >

For me, less of a learning curve - I mean Moto g5 to g8 +. I've never had 3 cameras on a phone before. And no photos taken yet

Its warm out there, but summer only. Nothing uncomfortable.

And I'm so Canadian. I've watched quite a few videos from the YouTube ' channel ? ' called ' Creek Fishing Adventures '.
An amatuer fisherman explores small streams etc and hopes to catch fish. Interesting on a small scale. For the second time - I was put off b/c the guy ' Mr Creek ' says something like ' I packed my rod and reel and Glock '. 
Yeah , I go fishing w/ my Glock. To be fair, I'm not exploring when I fish - known places, known water and civilization
Gun !

Simply Clean! Gentle Ways to Wash and Dry

no electrics, as they say over 'ome

Almost a moderate day, still heat and moist available

I was out to shop a bit. Warm but tolerable

I tried the Chinese food store and ordered from their takeout hot table. Alright, things got out of hand. More food came home then needed for one meal. M took it all in stride. ' Good, I'm not cooking tonight '
said the boss.
And the liquor store. Same thing, a wee bit too much
came home. Tough !

An old feature coming back courtesy of Brett Anderson at Accuweather Blogs

The interior West looks to heat up late this month into August.

the Thrumming

of the rain last night, 8 PM on

We got the rain that was needed
But all at once
a soaker, a big soaker

The tale of cell phones. Saddly, no stories. The window says ' copy your files ' and you click ' YES '
the window says ' syncing '
and then ' any more '
Done
The process isn't perfect, the banking app didn't move over. Actually glad it didn't - there is some security, in that
New phones are personalized now. And approxiamtely 20 features that we won't use. Mostly, we don't know what the app or utility means

I wanted to click on the one that said ' open heart surgery ' - figured it was too advanced

Here is Lehman s banner :

Garden Strong: Tools to Help Your Garden Grow 🌿

Inbox

x

Simple Soaps for a Good, Old-Fashioned Clean ✨ Inbox x

they mean make your own, natch

Intelligence 101 begins today
New phone arrived, Moto g8 plus
< the ' plus ' stands for increased smarts required to get it going >
And do you speak Spanish
Yep, intstructions in Sp - only
The description says ' International Dual SIM '
Guess what the international language is ?

However, TechSpurt has a video ' unboxing the sucker  ' for droogs like me < the guy is ENGLISH w/ the accent and UK wittisms >

Stay tuned for the horror as it unfolds

The phone was promised for today by   ' Amazon - ing '. I didn't want to miss the package. At 8 AM check ' tracking your parcel ' and found a picture of the front stoop w/ the package. Yikes !
Get out there !

How big are your fingers ? Getting the SIM card and data card in - Whoo ! 
What a kufuffle, the cards do slide in but only at one angle - hit or miss < mainly miss >
Set up ' Hers ' phone and now charging
I can do that. 

Facial recognition and fingerprint ID
Homeland security here I come

The phone is closely akin to a brick - self defense item. 

OK the highs of Moto g8 +:
Powerful processor
Stereo speakers
Android basic OS w/ Motorola tweaks

And it is promised that a new upgrade called OS 10 will be sent soon.

The overall appraisal of the YouTube world < I know no other > is an affordable phone w/ flaws. The majority feel that it is a compromise that works. Obviously it carries a brand name and one would hope that some integrity comes w/ that price

The Moto g8+ represents the newest or most recent cell phone that we have bought. Approx 8 months from release in the U.S.

Please bear in mind my report of the YouTube segment on ' when will you buy a new phone or more importantly WHY ? '
2 years ! for the majority of people and for some reason ' you need a new phone '
My five year window seems extravagant based on the above information

We shall see said the Zen Master

Planning on Becoming Alert Soon

so far. Got coffee < yesterday's - reheated >
Remembered that the baby carpet sweeper was charging < good >

As I put the cord back into the handle - the canister fell out and
yes, all the fluff and stuff dumped out on the floor. Bad

I discovered that I'm able to sit and sip coffee w/out incident

' the bill comes due, it always comes due ' sayeth Mordo ( Dr Strange s fellow mage )

In the garden. A light day. Short little spell out there.
How does it look - not bad. But the job is a bit of a hack < I know right up my alley >. The fabric is stiff and therefore good at blocking plants.  The fabric is bend unfriendly. However, there are rocks < biggun s > already planted. Thus, I'm cutting the fabric around about 8 stones.
The overlap is supposed to be approx 3 inches where the fabric joins < NOT >. Its very hard to get that much and still cover the other parts.
And not waste fabric - of course

And now we reach into the stratosphere of cell phones and rise to the level 8. We had entry level phones that lasted 1 or 2 yrs before we junked them.
And the leap into real phones came w/ the acquisition of the iPhone 4s. A cutting edge device. The camera was hailed as ground breaking and matched even higher priced models.
Next was the Moto g5. Superior to the 4s by gobs. And scary enough cheaper. That iPhone 4s < 2 generations old at purhcase - cost $C 400 >. The Moto g5 was a  generation out and was $C 200.
As you can guess level 8 means < yes, 3 generations newer, except Motorola cheats and doubles up some years >. His and hers Moto g8 plus phones are on the way.
Frivolous ? Not really. My Moto g5 got its last update Feb / 2019 and there will be no more security updates.

Funny enough,  a YouTube video on cell phones discussed in a poll why people change phones and how often. Turns out that the answer is 2 - 3 yrs for a change. But the reason - the phone malfunctioned or was damaged. The majority of the 3 000 respondents said that they expected to need to change phones every 2 years b/c of a not working phone.

Apparently, cell phones take a beating.

What is so great about the phones. Shiny blue. 4 cameras < each has a specialty, as in ' selfie ' lens >
Speakers are stereo. The  Operating System is one generation out but due for an update in the next 3 months.

The Moto g8 plus is not a gaming machine. As in video games - boo hoo - b/c we don't play games on our phones < unless you call texting a game >.
Both of us, went ' what gaming ?  ' But it is a selling point feature for some buyers.

Hottish and Slightly Humid

like, whats the difference
Well, you can stand outside and not faint

Tolerable is the word
Some garden work in the cool < NOT >
We had horse sweat running down our back
Poor horse, it needed the sweat back

It was the rock garden where we want to grow rocks and not much else. Which is hard to do.
Thus,  while I'm getting rid of weeds etc to put down
 ' dynamic ' landscape fabric < yes, very expensive >, I find the weeds growing through the old < read here, cheaper landscape fabric >
The difference was comparing tissue paper to canvas
and the cheaper landscape fabric is $20 and the better fabric is $ 100.

Thus, one hour of a quickie ' lets see ' job turned into 2 h plus of - well, horsey type work

Sleepy Head

yes, tired and awake

has there ever been a song titled ' Sleepy and Awake ' ?
Come on - it can't be just me

alright, about a month ago a series of events began
In the past, my right knee has refused to straighten, a little sore but in a few days, it corrects itself
Six weeks ago, the ' ' won't straighten ' problem happened.
The knee was swollen but I ignored the slight pain.
When the swelling continued, I iced and put a stretch sleeve on the knee for support.
One day a month ago,  I was trying to tidy up my workroom and I guess that I was kneeling and standing etc. The knee was not cooperating. When I stood up near 5 oclock PM, I noticed a tingling - sort of numbness in the heel area. 
The tingling spread up the leg almost to the knee.
I called TeleHealth Ontario and a nurse recommended that I see a Doctor. I decided to attend Emergency at the hospital Sunday morning early.
A young doc tested the knee and leg and decided that it was fit. The ' tinlging likely caused by extra compression from the swelling and the sleeve.
I haven't worn the sleeve in a month. The knee is normalizing but the tingling is dwindling but still there.
The swelling is reduced and the knee works

Thats my report

Have a good day

Spark Joy : its the Lehman s banner

Hot Outside? Cool Down with Something Sweet! 🍦

Isolated and got no data

Friday and Saturday

A cell phone for texts etc. but no Chormebook
Roughing it

Lots of sun and heat. Saved by brisk winds and cool at that
Still mega sun
But mini fish
However, mechanically, the boat and trolley behaved for the most part. We ate well < of course > drank in moderation < of course >

Love to Bake? We've Got You Covered. 🍰

cookies and pies are my favs

Not a cake guy, though.
' Let them eat pie ' is a not so famous quote

Rain is due - sort of all day according to the weather people

Darkening skies have occurred and its threatening rain
Oops ! rain

He Builds a Swimming Pool ?

beside the front drive ?

Sinkhole Scarborough was investigated. The pavers had fallen in and you could see a ' burrow ' dug out by 
< water > ? 
The pavers were removed and the hollow was approximately 10 ft by 4 ish ft.
A warm morning producing a glean of sweat in about 8 minutes. But erosion has occurred.
And yes, a body would fit. But its not one big hole but a series of cave ins.
Whoa ! there's a job

Lehman s banner for the day
Kitchen Gadgets Every Cook Needs to Make Mealtime Easy 😄

Warm and sticky w/ blue sky mainly

The Neatest, Cleanest House Starts with the Right Tools ✨

haven't seen our house, I bet !

the day cannot make up its mind
a touch of everything
rumour says that the humdity is building in, as the weekend approaches

In Ontario, the province goes to Phase 3
EXCEPT - Toronto and the surrounding area as before
Toronto gets the NHL disease vector for the season restart
Yeah, hockey in July
C V 19 w/  a puck

And we have a sinkhole. The interlock in the property boundary < ours > is collapsing. I stepped on  paver and it fell almost 2 ft into a hole
The missing underfill is bout 4 ft by 3 ft
A body would almost fit

Get Relief with Our Soothing Solutions 👍

from Amish Country

Relieve leg cramps

A fishing day, ducking rain drops and getting drenched.

Fish is the one w/out a hat

Simple Living Sunday: The Joys of Ohio's Amish Country 😄

Apparently, the Amish publsih books about the simple life
Who knew ?

Slept in to 7:10 AM

Everything Amazon comes today:
new cooking pan 8 "
underwear
slippers
print ink cartridges

A hot time at chez us, but it is different out there - you can feel the lack of humidity

Well, the flag pole come down this afternoon. Canada Day plus 11. And the flag blew for approx 20 % of the time. No breeze really, for 10 days

Hello ! to the Ether

or the cloud or wherever this blog gets stored

I consider today - sleeping in - after all, I made it til 6:30 AM. Obviously, I'm not in tune w/ aging or     the ' new ' me at 70.

The day is dull and humid and not hot
BTW, I might have mentioned a Zoom re - union for my graduating class at high school  < class of 1968 >
The host kept track of imput from the virtual participants.
Mine : has been retired 17 years
Others had mentioned careers and marriages or lack thereof.
I did offer thanks to a friend who couldn't participate and was a common link for half the group that did.
Nope. He didn't rate in the comments.

Keeping Amazon afloat. Us
Another 2 orders, printer ink
Apparently, when you buy a new printer, the catrdiges are sampler ones - yes, minimal fill up
Thus, order the 4 cartridges. Did you know, most printers won't allow only black but use all the catridges < uses them up faster - of course >

Eyelid wipes for my eye cleaning regime
Water filters for the fridge

I Do Like Pineapple

lately, the pineapple has come frozen - tidbits

The time is 5:47 AM and I've been awake like you
< B in Wadsworth ? >
Coudn't get back to sleep
Age, no doubt or the coffee at 9, last night

The Lehman s banner

Tools For the Grill 🍴 y'all 

Our house and its failures
#1 the refrigerator - BTD d <bit the dust > NEW needed
#2 the microwave door is kaput < closing switches don't work, thus no ' on ' function > NEW needed
plus the microwave is the exhaust fan. Cost $500 
NO way. We'll buy a separate fan and microwave.
$300 at most
#3 the oven ignitor - BTD d, however, the repair guy repalced the ignitor for $ 300 and tax. And the repair person said ' you'll never buy another stove like this
- solid and built to last '

Ah, the cost of keeping a house. To be fair, those appliances are all purchases from 2004 or so.
 

The Best Food on Our Shelves 🍖

canned peaches

This marks past the midpoint in our H / H spell. The H / H will continue for another 3 days then break for thunderstorms and a drop down to mid to high 70 s
However, conditions may pop right back after that
?????????

Ah, canned peaches. This product is peaches in a can
Well, always been my favourite. Pineapple is good, but peaches ............ its memories - growing up on the farm and Granny putting up the harvest
< no, kidding, kidding >
I do like peaches canned - yes, even more than the fresh kind
I know, I know its the sugar
or how easy it is to eat them
And as a kid, at certain times in the year, the peach fuzz tickled my throat as in irritation
seemed to aggravate my allergies < which I no longer seem to have - touch wood >

Today, I ' unfriended ' a contact on Facebook - probably right before ' I drop FB ' 
An understanding between Zuckerberg and Trump
World beware

Take Care of Your Lawn 🌾

as it browns - real good

I broke w/ tradition and watered the lawn < twice >
Hoping to avoid a total lawn shut down.
There will be increased chances of rain in the next 3 days - XXXXX my fingers that it is enough rain to renew the grass

America is setting records - worldwide
They are # 1 in almost everything

News is Noise

24 hr news cycle is a shame
I figure that there is a 1 hr news cycle on some days

Certain items merit attention. Especially your local news feeds. Traffic and weather should be updated.     In the case, of traffic, we know moments can change traffic flow etc.
Government announcements usually take days e.g in Australia, the state government announced a lock down at the border between Victoria and New South Wales, even that takes 3 days to implement - and thats quick reponse
Maybe, news at 6 and 11 can be spread out to 4 times a day at 15 minutes a go. But thats it most days, as in 95 % of the year.
Basically, an advertising opportunity on media
Love makes the world go round
B.S.
Advertising makes the world.................... something
an its not nice
either

We despair, here in Canada, about travel.
In our little shell, or bubble, we feel safe from the U.S. < 4 % of the world's population and 25 % of C V 19 cases > and the world

8 000 deaths here in the ' Great White North ' which is a good week in the States < of America >

Wake up U.S of A - your a disease hub

Customer Favorites We Thought You'd Love 😄

Bee's wax polish

Whoa ! got ou there early and cleared out the rock garden

I stopped to compliment a lady on her front garden.
Immaculate.
She gave away her secret - buy high quality landscape cloth. Now, lets be clear - her brand was like a carpet.
My landscape cloth is tissue paper
Of course, it works

Today, took the sample she gave me and layed it down in our rock garden. Good. No
OK and a attempt, at least
M approves

Ontario is Opening Up

Yes, definitely a change in people movement. Long awaited, freeing up.

M has been for groceries and except for a few instances of patrons ignoring or not being aware of procedures - things went well.

One hospital, Humber Regional ( ? ) has an empty ICU, meaning no acitve C V 19 cases. This situation compares to 120 % capacity at one time in late April.

Here is the Lehman s banner

Fermenting & Pickling: Learn the Difference from Our Blog 👍 I know - you can't wait to know the difference

Sultry kind of ' mint julep ' day. Don't think that I've ever had a minty. Maybe. But forgettable - I guess

Water Truly is Life 💧

dig your own well

Away from the internet for Thurs and Fri til 6 PM
Didn't miss it a bit

Except now, 20 advertising emails hit the inbox < hard >

Yes, fish got cuaght and even by me
Pix to follow

Have a Happy Independence Day 😄

and roast a chicken in the oven in a crockware dish

Alrighty, Thurs and Fri saw me at the old cottage
meaning that I used to own it.
The weather was challenging. Full sun w/ blessed breezes < actually cool on occasion > and some cloud.
I got bronzed or over -exposed b/c it all depends on your point of view. The actual catching of fish ?

The best outing ( s ) so far. Thurs was a late afternoon trip for 3 hrs. We watched the movie ' Ford vs Ferrari '
and Ford won all around < the bastards >.
The first stop was a dock that I favour. And first cast lucky, produced a largemouth bass, OK not a giant.
Two more bass followed and that was it.
Next day, Fri, was an early beginning at 7:30 AM. The start was non - productive but 2 h in the other guy got hot and 3 largemouth came to the boat. Me.
Nada
Close to noon, on a weedline
 < where else do you go > in about 14 ft of water. BANG. A largemouth and 2 smallmouth hit. The smallies were on the lunker side of things. One broke the line as I was lifting him out.
Thats  a no - no < stupid, stupid >. I should have got down and lipped him in. You can't fix stupid !

Whoa ! yes hot. We drank water and wore hats STILL that was not comfortable

Again !

earlier to bed - of course, woke earlier too
Yes, I'm out of bed < master > and down in the spare room
typing


But M insisted on Gravol - the anti - nausea pill
to make me sleep. Its the cure for my anxiety or ill ease for flying

We shall see said the Zen Master

Here it is, the daily offering:

The Staple of Many Chefs + FREE Recipe for Dutch Oven Taco Cornbread 🍳

This anecdote is a true Canadian story.

We noticed a rubber / plastic strip hanging down from the skylight. The installer and host company, called Velux asked for photos.
From the photos, the installer said call the company.
The company found the gasket part < from 2002 >
and announced we can ship the part if you order the part.
I asked ' who installs the gasket ' ?
Answer from the company ' get a local contractor '

Called the original installer '  well, the host company has better rates and we ourselves are short installers '

And ; we need 4 weeks to ship

Canada Day 2020.

 Grab a ladder and go up and look.
Surprise ! The gasket is displaced. Whole and wonky but out of place < loose and free >
In true, Canuck fashion, grab some duct tape and a stapler. Overlap the duct tape on gasket and wood frame and staple the duct tape to the frame. 

Celebrating w/ a beer, lemon and salt rim

My right knee / calf has reached the point where there is some doubt about which knee is the most trouble.
The left has always been suspect and supported by a knee brace or sleeve
Thus, when the right started to give problems - no problem - brace the knee
Until, you get nerve irritation as the swelling is compressed by the brace.
Its been 9 days, since the brace was disgarded

Finally