Day 135: Friday for those keeping track... the wife left for work... the door shut... my eyes plinked open. Crap, 3 hours of sleep again. Honest I tried to get back to sleep... It didn't work. The boy eventually surfaced and I fed him... Like Egg McMuffins but on Bagels rather than English muffins... I made him 2... he could only finish 1... I guess the "growth spurt" was one of those Indian Summer kinda things. I dragged ass until noonish and then got up to do something. I looked through the fridge for food to take to KL later in the day for a picnic type thing at the park where Heather was going to meet us. Buns, I need to make buns... I need my glasses, I can't see shit. Back to the bed to get my glasses... now I remember crawling into the bed to look for them on the head board... but the day went fuzzy after that... Damn 2:30 how the hell did that happen... I yelled at the boy to put on his bathing suit and get a towel... Man he needs a new bathing suit... he's 10 now... I'm thinking Thomas the Train is a bit young for him at this point. I make him eat that other sandwich and we pile into the car and head towards Kirkland Lake. It's supposed to be at Civic Park at the Splash Pad but there is no Splash Pad at Civic Park... I call the organizers and find out where the splash pad is... still on time... actually the first ones there. The people running it showed up moments later and then the other kids. Even driving for an hour to another town, a park we had never been to before... Lawson still finds someone he knows at the event. A friend he had been in Cubs with a few years back who had apparently moved. So the theme of the Activity was Water Balloons and it was a program to get the kids back out and active... we lather him up with sunscreen and he plows through the splash pad to get his balloon from the bucket... ok first event, the bird dance with a balloon between your knees... he did poorly... then various exercises holding the balloon in other awkward places... he did poorly again and again and again... he did the exercises fine, just could never keep the balloon in place. He accounted for the majority of the broken balloons and they ran out early. He's trying to catch the balloon as him and his friend move apart... you think for a goalie he would be better at catching those in his.... hey wait a minute... it dawns on me what was happening... yes we buttered him up like a greased pig, then got him wet... no wonder he can't hold on to anything... might as well just dipped him in Crisco. After the activities we just went out for diner... what you can do that now? Apparently you can, no mask required. We ventured farther towards Quebec to avoid the masses. Found a little place that was pack... went in and had Dinner (See Photo), Steak, fish and chips a big platter of fried stuff... gorf gorf gorf... and then it was gone and time to go home. The sun fought us a better part of the way there. Arriving home late Heather didn't last long... Lawson and I played a little Minecraft and then he went to sleep as well. Well gotta stop typing... we are 13 minutes into day 136 now... maybe I should sleep.

Lawson and Heather out for Dinner after LockDown Ended

Rod Turnbull
Ever catch yourself saying: You know that water that was squirting up your shorts a few minutes ago is the same water you're drinking now right?

Lawson Playing at the Water Park in Kirkland Lake.

Day 134: Trashed from yesterday, breakfast, Egg McMuffin, perogies for lunch and hot dogs for the boy for dinner... with some scattered fruits and veggies through out the day... that was the food forecast for the day. Been in bed most of the day, haven't even got to much on the computer... I did find some old photo I have to go through and some I have to go looking for on CD someplace that I have realized haven't been backed up to one of the hard drives yet. I'm thinking Brie is not my friend, might have to add that to the list of things I avoid. I hate adding yummy things to that list. Going back to bed to feel more bad now.

Day 133: Very long day today, I was woken up by the boy questioning why the alarm had been going off for the past 10 minutes... that's the breakfast alarm boy, it's time to eat. We got ready to head out, fed, watered, packed up and on the road by 8am. Picked up SideKick and his mom to head into town. Doctor's appointment for the one, sat in the car... the doctors appointment for the other and sat in the car... actually went to pick up some baseballs bases I bought online which was only a few blocks away... I handed boy the box... he asked if he could take them out and asked for something to open it with... I didn't realize they were taped in the box but here's a knife... I go to pass back the hunting knife and realise the bag he is trying to open is actually the base. OK never mind, no knife for you. Obviously unclear on baseball, not a sport he plays on an actual team. We head back for SikeKick's mom... then to the grocery store... Picked up a few things, milk, butter, chicken wings, just a few basics. Then across the street for lunch at A&W, in out and heading east by noon. On the way back we saw a bear at the side of the road... a mama bear, and oh look a cute cub... SHIT!!!! BRAKES BRAKES BRAKES!!!! and oh look another cute cub, that one isn't going to last long... it forgot to check for cars before it crossed the road. I managed to avoid the black furball crossing the road... you know what they say, BLM.... LOL. Dropped off our passengers and continued on to Iroquois Falls for Golf... forgot to get his membership card again. So I grab a drink and sit down to embark on getting my boaters safety card thingy so I can operate more than a canoe. I got the first few chapters of the course done before the boy finished up. Back home, I call Heather, she's on her way home too... coffee? Yes... OK, I stop by Timmies and pick up some Joe. Back to Matheson. I was smart... I bought a cooked chicken at the store this morning... made dinner easy and painless... well mostly painless until I got the bbq sauce in an open wound... that was a little ouchie. Heather went back to work on her blanket. I took care of the bills and checks that came in the mail yesterday, some online banking, and then got into the boys sports. As it so happens, I find out from one of my facebook groups that someone is trying to sell a Eddie Mask Cage... now I don't need an Eddie mask cage BUT they say it will fit an Otny Helmet (which is a newer brand people are more likely to have)... long story short, Otny is the only company to make Ringette Goalie Masks now, and because the powers to be at Ringette are just stupid and can't figure out what their own rules say there has been a LOT of flack over the helmet last season. Well we have an old Eddie Mask, so I just ordered an Otny cage for it... a Ringette Cage. Saved myself $400 as the new masks come in around $600. Then I tuned into a Live update on the COVID vs Ringette... seriously not worth my time... they still have no idea what's going on and this season is likely going to be boring as hell, few games if any and a lot of kids not getting near each other on the ice. I switch back at looking at hockey stuff as I deposited the refund from the AAA tournaments he was supposed to play in this summer. It was to be the gateway to playing for Team Canada in Europe next year. Maybe the following year, let's wait and see which counties survive. OK Back to fishing... well I finished that course on boating, it was timed, scroll to the bottom of the page and wait for the timer that proves you read the info... I read some of it... well enough of it to almost get perfect on the test... there was a question that had no proper answer, I chose the least wrong answer which is likely where I buggered up. Printed of my temp cars now I need to steal a boat from someone. LOL I think I crammed 30 hours of activities into a 20 hour time span today. Feels like it anyway. I'm sure I am forgetting something... likely just all that boating info leaking back out of my brain. Should all be gone by morning. LOL Oh I know what I forgot... Lawson's hockey camp in Timmins in a few weeks... we got an email about that... apparently rather than day camp, it's down to 2 hours... they are keeping the on ice activities but have scrapped the dry land training and everything that went with it... better than nothing I guess. Oh and no parents are allowed in... you need to dress your kid completely in the parking lot and push them in the door at the designated time and then receive them 2 hours later when they are pushed out the back door. I think I found a loophole and made arrangements to act as a volunteer... I will post some video of what takes place behind closed doors. OK I sleep now.

Day 132: Just another garbage day... I went through the fridge this morning before the garbage went out... there were a few things that didn't pass the sniff test.... is it good? I don't know smell it. It has absolutely no odor what so ever. It's good put it back, someone's saving it... I miss George. We did eggs, fruit and English muffins for breakfast and then got to work... today's mission: Acquire the new BTD6 Hero and take him for a test drive. I was close to getting it already... another 140$ in monkey money and I was golden... Bought Admiral Money Farts or what ever the hell it's name is and we cued up a co-op game. Played a hard map, we kind of over did it with the banana farms and money was no object most of the game... come round 43 we had seen our last balloon... after that nothing even made it on the board... total annihilation, wasn't even funny... we blew past level 100 which is 20 levels higher than were the hard level ends... and the big fucker that normally just stomps the shit out of every tower you have.... didn't even make it on the board before it was dead. Level 132 scrolled by and our electronics started to go... I play on the phone and Lawson his iPad... not computer processing power houses... the game eventually locked up... too many bombs, and machine guns and laser canons and flying money terds... He retired to the basement to play with his friends very late afternoon. Eventually Heather got home, still a little beat from the day before she slugged core boxes around a good portion of the day because the new core racks came in and they needed to give the ones they borrowed back... yes they were full of core. BigMac salad was on the agenda for the night... Lawson got picky and opted out of dinner... well he made his own, mac n cheese... what ever... I'm not cooking 2 meals if there is not a freak factor involved... besides he needs to learn to cook anyway. After dinner I went over to help a friend out by bringing a lawn tractor to the mechanics place. Out to Canaught and back... nice evening for a drive... filled up the gas in the wife's car so she doesn't have to stop for gs in the morning.... got the mail from the post office... came home and everyone was sleeping... all the lights were on... but they were sleeping. Damn, got a check back from one set of tournament Lawson was supposed to play in... oh and canceled our camping reservations for Sudbury... so many plans that went down the tube... so sad.

Day 131: Monday... did I mention I got an email from the guy running the goalie camp in Timmins in a few weeks... looks like it might be back on. Sent him back the money he had returned. Fingers are crossed. Very sore, death take me now... can't walk, too much in the basement yesterday. Lawson got some banana bread and fruit for breakfast, I passed and opted for horizontal sloth training. Crawled back out of bed around noonish, sidekick stopped by for a coffee. We chatted for a while, fixed up some paperwork, nothing more taxing than sitting. I could almost handle that today. Today he made it out before the wife came home. She went for a 10 km walk today in the dark with the big mucker boots on... through the water under the ground ( a long way under the ground )... Apparently a drill site inspection... surprise! And then she did some inspecting I guess... I don't know... definitely above my pay grade. She wasn't home early and did smelled a little like mine water but I love her anyway, so I let her back in the house. Looks like left over pulled pork sandwiches and a side of ice cream. After dinner she worked on her blanket a bit before going crosseyed looking at the pattern and gorffing back a few advil to make her eyes stop hurting. I messed around with the keyboard a bit and Lawson watched some videos... everyone was in bed on time for a change... and here's me... not sleeping again... maybe some BTD6, really liking the new door gunner... a techterror in there is something to behold.

Day 130: I'm not sure what happen, we didn't get up that late... everyone was a little preoccupied, Heather was making things in the kitchen that were not breakfast related, no yummy smells of bacon... the boy was engrossed in the video games down stairs and I was looking at odds and ends on the internet. Eventually I got into the kitchen and made the adults some pancakes for lunch. Lawson lucked out, one of the things Heather was making was Banana Bread... so the boy loaded up on that. The pace didn't pick up any after spending a little more than an hour in the kitchen... I took a long break and played a few games with the boy... unavoidably this stretched into an even longer break when the power went out. I know what we can do with no power! Yup you guessed it... Eat Ice Cream to keep it from melting... we did that. However, plans were to cut the wood for the cupboard doors and drawer fronts. I did get the cut list printed off before the power died... not that I was going to cut it by hand, let's not be dumb now. But I spent a long time working on that list and I did finally get to cutting the wood when the power came back on, late after noon. The scrap from the 8 foot lengths that were cut, less than an inch total for the 3 pieces added together. Ya that took some figuring, but I'm cheap so... I managed to finish just as dinner was being put on the table, taco casserole. Heather managed to get more done on the tartan blanket and is now starting on the pattern going in the cross direction, starting to look kinda cool. The weekend was over and Heather and Lawson packed it in at a reasonable time... but me not so much so, seems I can't sleep again, meh.

Day 129: Saturday, great plans were afoot... so much so the anticipation kept me up to the wee hours of the morning... 5:10am the last number I saw on the clock before falling to sleep. Ya I slept in... not sure if people were making noise around me or not, maybe they let me sleep in... the boy plopped down on the bed about 10:30am with his iPad watching a video and broke the darkness. Good enough. Heather had brunch on so I was apparently getting up soon anyway. Always good to wake up to the smell of breakfast cooking... specially when breakfast involves BACON! The one unfortunate problem with breakfast today was that I was informed it was call Brunch due to the time of day it was... and we all know what Brunch means... It means you slept in late enough you are getting boned for Lunch or Breakfast, pick one and forget about it, this is the meal that's substituting for both of those.  I wasn't going to complain as Heather shortly there after started to shovel more goop into the ice cream maker. I took Lawson with me into the basement and had him sort through the wrenches and put them back into sets. Looks like I have about 3 sets of each, metric and standard, but no set contains a 10mm wrench... how does that even happen? I set up the dust collector, hooked it to the table saw, turned it on and the garbage can I bought collapsed under the pressure. I turned it off and made a temporary x brace out of wood and put it inside to keep it from sucking flat. It worked slightly better but needs something round and metal in there to keep it open that goes on the outside of the garbage bag... a job for another day. Once functional I made a shelf for the plants that were sitting on the dining-room table... that was the goal for today, clean up the dining-room some. Re-potted some more plants that were escaping the bounds of their limits or hand been in water long enough to develop roots. Only one plate of plants left on the table, we can eat there again. Part one of mission complete. Took a break, Heather is still working on the Tartan Blanket, almost finished the stripes going the one direction, looks good, she's having a hard time waiting to see what it will look like with the stripes going the other way, LOL... soon grass hopper... soon. Today, yes today was Pizza and Wing night... ok Wing night... Pizza sounded like a lot of work... and if we eat pizza too, we will have no room to put ice cream in our pie holes. On deck today was Peanut Butter and Chocolate Fudge in Vanilla Ice Cream... yes, I've said it before... this diet is a bitch, no one should be forced to eat food like this all the time, BAhahahhaaaaa.... Buffalo Wings, celery, cucumbers and blue cheese dressing.... DOH!!! I forgot to buy the Blue Cheese on Wednesday... OK going to have to go back to Heather's Ranch she makes... it's good to but really doesn't go with the mean as well. After dinner I picked another issue with the room to deal with, a pile of music books that had no place to live and a Keyboard that had no music stand on the back of it. I head out the the garage and cut a piece of sheet metal from my stock, 2 foot by 3 foot... ya, I'm not screwing around, this isn't going to be a normal music stand... this fucker is going to hold all the music I want to keep handy. Polished that up, marked it out, cut it to fit, bent it to shape, cleaned up the edges and Bob's you uncle... I put that on the keyboard... then I got rid of that pile of music books that kept falling all over the place. Some times it's good to be multi talented, wood and metal fabrication all in one day. Not in a timely manner... just in one day. It was late and getting dark by the time I finished... played with the keyboard a bit to test the stand and then packed it in for the day.

Day 128: Era of the Social Circle, have you got your 10 friends in order? Woke up late, Sidekick messaged me... want to drive down to KL and get those parts the wife didn't pick up? OK Made the boy some breakfast and headed south to look for boat parts. We were asked if we got the number off the impeller... sidekick brought the whole lower portion of the motor for verification... he looked, it was obvious that the number was no longer an option, pretty sure there wasn't that much of the part left... he sold us the parts and wished us luck... it's not going to be the easiest thing to get apart to replace the things that need replaced. On the way home I got a message that the Subaru was ready to pick up... To home I went to get money for the new tires and then back to the garage. 4 tires, mounted, balanced and installed $900, I think they are 18", as you get bigger they get more expensive, as they get smaller they get more rare... tried to buy 14" tires for the trailer... ya good luck finding a set of those... it has one snow tire on one side now and a low profile street tire on the other side, sits a little wonky but works. Car got a good matching set   Went back to the house for lunch and to sort out some paper work we have been trying to get done for about a month now. Then the wife got home... caught him before he had a chance to escape again, LOL... Heather put the custard into the ice cream maker and I worked on cleaning those leather pads some more... at this point I have switched from rubbing gently to loading cleaner onto the Dremel and buffing the snot out of them, seems to work better, faster, and honestly with less wear on the pads, I guess I was rubbing too hard with the cloth. Dinner... hmmm what to have for dinner... is it Pizza and Wing night yet? Heather came through with home made hot dog buns... we ate the rest of the Jalapeno Cheddar Smokies... maybe tomorrow is Wing Night.

Day 127: Thursday maybe... Alarm went off in my head, I whacked it hard and went back to sleep. Snooze alarm when off... I don't know what's wrong with this damn thing... I didn't set an alarm... maybe it's defective. I get up, make the boy some Egg McFrik'n Muffins and an omelet for myself... take a shower, pack the car and head over to Lawson's friends place again. Grabbed some minnows on the way... now the boy today decides that rather than cast like a normal person he wants the bait to sit about half way across the river.... (it's a good size river) He hurls the rod back and takes a mighty swing for the outfield wall... the sinkers and minnows scream through the air towards the far shore... they eventually smash into the water like they were shot from a cannon... the sinker grabs and comes to an abrupt stop... the minnows continue the journey across the river, the hooks stop shortly after the sinker but with no less abruptness... the minnows continue on ripping in half as they free themselves from the hook. Not sure what has gotten into him... he was doing this fine the other day... Meh, the eventually gave up on fishing, too hot again, no fish, they went swimming and biking, had lunch, went back to fishing and then gave up again.Eventually we had to pack the car back p and head for home. Picked up eggs at the farm on the way home. When we got there Heather was already well into making dinner... good thing, I was spent from dealing with the boy outside all day. At this point I can't remember squat tonight... We dropped off the car at the garage for some new tires and a checkup... came back home and for some reason I did some photoshop work that included a toad I had taken a photo of this afternoon down by the water. You will have to check the wall or my photos to find out "Where Toad Went Next" - While I was playing with Toad, the wife made some more ice cream for Lawson, well it's mixed up and chilling in the fridge... it will go in the ice cream maker tomorrow. Heather crashed first (likely worked the hardest out of all of us today..., Followed by the boy... and then Zzzzzzz....

Day 126: We will start with the good hockey related news before I go off half cocked... I got an email today from Nick and it seems because we are entering phase 3 of this COVID19 thing we may be able to do that goalie camp next month from the 10th-14th. I haven't told Lawson yet just to make sure it's not canceled again. So anyway... this morning we got up, got ready, had breakfast and were out of the house by 7:45, picked up sidekick and headed into town... town is starting to get busier. And then it was announced that the Heath Unit was going to mandate wearing masks in public, no shoes no shirt no mask no service. Personally, me... I think I'm going to go with a Darth Vader Mask... if everyone else's home made masks are find I should be able to make one too... So I don't get this... shouldn't masks if they do any good be part of phase 1 or 2? Can't wait until everyone forgets how to cough into their arm to keep from spewing germs everywhere... should be about the same time they lift the mask order... hey would that be a gag order? LOL - Yup then people will just be coughing all over everything but their own sleeve, we are all going to die just from the spread of the common cold. First Doctor's appointment, Lawson and I stay in the car and play some BloonsTD and wait. After that we had some time to kill. Off to pick up a brush cutting blade for SideKicks weed eating thing... once again Lawson and I continued with our game. OK Canadian Tire, gave up on finding the Dremel, they are on sale for 70% off, just easier to buy a new one, the old one was in pretty bad shape anyway. Also got some leather cleaning stuff for the new old pads. Gas, then Timmies... off to Dr.'s Apt #2, and we wait in the car again... I messaged the golf people... Piss Pouring Rain in Iroquois Falls... Golf was canceled... I think it's at the point where the boy is so use to having things canceled on him he doesn't even get excited about things until the event is half over. What was going to be a mad dash for I.F. when SideKick got out now turned into a 'well what do you want to do now?' kind of day. Off to get groceries. I did need anything but I figured I would stroll though just to see if there were any good deals on anything. I got ground beef at a reasonable price... sure there was a line up of people waiting for the butcher to bring more out but I'm patient... wings... hey look at the price of boneless skinless chicken breasts... $8/kg... and they sit beside the bone in covered with skin stuff that is selling for $11/kg... because it's worth more if you have to throw 1/3 of it out... boggles my mind who prices this shit. We stop for a bite to eat at A&W feeling like I've spent too much already today I cheap out, me and the boy order buddy burgers. Now on the way home in no real hurry we stop at SideKicks friends place again... now last time we were there Lawson was riding the bike around and showing the kids there how it worked... they wanted him to ride it again... once he left last time the one boy actually figured out how to peddle it around after seeing Lawson do it... it was no longer a push bike, it was now a ride bike... hey you learn something new every day. Back to SideKicks to check the Serial Number on the OutBoard Motor... the one he gave me had an extra digit... wait that was a phone number he gave me... the SN and the phone numbers here have the same first 5 digits and I knew approximately what the number on the motor should be so I never thought about the number I had being a phone number. I messaged the info to Heather who drives by the marina on the way home, please pick up water pump parts for this motor... she messages me back, Um, I'm already home... sure the one night they don't keep her late... ok tomorrow then. We headed home for dinner. Heather is stuffing a head of cauliflower into the instapot... apparently soup... with cheese and bacon on deck... a little sour cream. It was good... I might of had a few bowls. After dinner Heather worked on the tartan blanket some more, Lawson hid in the basement and I worked on cleaning up a small part of the leather pads to see the difference... the night came to an end, Heather went up and tucked the boy in, talked to her mom on the phone a bit and then went to sleep. Likely had nightmares, I know talking to her mom gives me nightmares.