A Covid Christmas Tree Hunt

It's early December and at this point our assumption is that Christmas is cancelled. At least from the point of view of having people over. This means no big Christmas dinner, no Christmas fondue and it's looking like no family visits at all. Barb and Reg usually come down for Christmas but there is a travel ban in place with rising numbers and little hope that it will be removed. We may still decide to self quaranteen in advance and risk it but I think people are leaning towards a quiet Christmas. Just because there aren't people coming though doesn't mean we don't still need to get a tree.

We planned our traditional tree hunt at Dogwood Christmas Tree Farm. Unlike many places they decided against trying to do any sort of reservation system for your visit. That's probably okay since everything is outdoors. It was busy but easy to physically distance. The other change was that they had no food or hot chocolate to purchase and of course masks everywhere. We got another Noble fir and aptly named it Henry after Doctor Bonnie Henry. It's not a celebrity tree like last year but we still got close to what looked like a Hallmark movie shoot at a nearby farm. It was either a bigger production or they were shooting multiple movies. All using the same farmhouse and gazebo of course. 

 

A Very Covid Halloween

This year's halloween project was a proper chiller for my smoke machine. Smoke machines superheat a liquid and blow it out. The heated smoke tends to raise and spread everywhere. If you can chill it below ambient temperature however it will stick close to the ground. I had previously thrown together something simple with a five gallon pail but envisioned something fancier. The end result was a box with holes coming out of skull heads with the smoke machine, ice and blower fan all encased inside. The box was meant to look like a crypt and had a dog skeleton on top. It worked quite nicely and was a hit with the everyone walking by.

This of course was 2020 and the year of Covid so Halloween was very different. Doctor Bonnie Henry did not explicitly say no however she encouraged a physically distant Halloween. This mean avoiding kids having to come to your front door and making sure you made every effort to keep six feet distant. One of the popular projects online was a candy delivery system. I briefly considered doing something that I could use in future years but in the end only had time to create a simple candy chute with some PVC pipe. It worked okay but wasn't quite big enough and due to lighting issues, many kids didn't notice it. The ones that did though liked the idea of having candy thrown at them through a pipe. I think I even got some day time trick or treaters that didn't intend to try to get candy. Their parents were very excited their kids didn't have to get too close.

It was definitely not a normal year. We had 160 last year and this year we only got 50 kids. Carter went out and found it very difficult to find houses to trick or treat at. The number of homes participating in our neighbourhood was already down and now people had a further excuse. I hope things rebound next year. I'll have to start thinking about what my next project is going to be. The yard decorations definitely help us bring in more kids than most people on our street.

 

Raine the Bunny in Trouble

Since the spring we've had at least two bunnies living in our back yard. We're pretty sure there were two because they seemed to be different sizes. It was hard to tell though so we named 'the bunny' Raine and weren't too worried about which one we were looking at. Raine was chosen because Oliver's bunny based dog food is from a brand called Raine. It seemed fitting. We weren't entirely sure if they bunnies actually lived in the backyard or if they just visited a lot. They seemed to be there most days and you could see their various escape routes under the fence. Necessary as Oliver would often chase them.

One day in October during work I was outside on a conference call and the bushes near the deck were moving. I discovered that Raine was there but wasn't running away the way he/she normally wood. Upon close inspection I noticed that he/she was entangled in some grass. You could tell this was where (let's just go with she) she was living because she had eaten out the inside of one of my perennials. More noticeable now that the plants were dying back for winter. She had either become entangled trying to jump in or out and the grass had wrapped completely around her stomach. I quickly grabbed some kitchen scissors and freed her hoping she would hop away. Unfortunately it looked like she had injured herself while trapped. It was very apparent that she had either severely dislocated or broken one of her hind legs. She made a very feeble effort to get away from me but it was obvious she wasn't going anywhere quickly.

After a bit of thought I decided the immediate action was to protect her for a while and watch to see if she could get better on her own. I surrounded her with some metal fencing and got a light bulb to keep her warm. We fed her some water and spinach and other then the inability to move she seemed fine. She drank and ate and made efforts to move around her cage. After a couple hours however it was obvious the leg was broken. It hung limply and I knew there was no way for us to care for her. I did seriously consider looking after her for a few weeks while she got better and it might have worked if it was a sprain. A break though needed more aid.

I biked over to the vet and they recommended a wildlife shelter in Langley. We got Oliver's old kennel from the basement and put her inside. We drove to the sanctuary and dropped her off and then came home and made a donation. I suspect generic rabbits are not one of the rarest animals they get. We don't know what happened to her. The sanctuary does care for rabbits but the break may have been more effort than they would want to do for a species that 'breeds like rabbits'. Of course, our assumption is that she is living out a long live at the animal sanctuary with other bunny friends. All this in about 5 hours on a slow work day.

 

Backsplash

When we moved into our town house in 2002 our kitchen didn't have a back splash. It just had the curved laminate and we did go to the tile store a few times to pick out tiles but we never ended up installing one. We ended up moving into our house after a few years. Our new house had a dated kitchen and the plan was to replace it eventually. We finally did so four years ago and everything was finished except the back splash. I do much of the work on our house and tiling is one item I don't enjoy doing. My main issue is that if you screw up there isn't a lot to do to fix your mistakes but replace everything. This year we replaced our fire place which also had tile around it and there was now a need to tile two things. All this back story is leading up to the fact that I finally took the plunge and started on the backsplash. Home Depot had a good tile saw for a price that made sense to buy rather than rent and after getting Kerry to finally check out tile for our new house we were ready to go.

The easy part turned out to be the initial install. I was worried it would take a long time to cut tiles but with a new saw and a new blade they cut like butter. The next hard part was trying to be neat. I've watched enough HGTV shows to know that it's important to be neat with the install or your grouting will be a pain. The first wall was a bit of a disaster but after I got the hang of it it got easier. I was also able to clean the mastic with a putty knife and a rag so I was well prepped for grouting. Grouting on a vertical surface is a bit of a pain but with tiles that were rough on the edges things didn't have to be perfect. After 17 or 18 years we finally have our first backsplash. Now on to the fireplace. 

 

First Day of School

There were a few first days of school this year. Kerry went back two weeks before the typical first day as she is a Vice Principal and has to do that now. Lots to plan for this year. There was then the first day of school for teachers which was your usual day after labour day. Carter went in two days later on the Thursday and Friday for an hour and Callie went for an hour on the Friday. The first full day of school was finally on the following Monday the 14th. This was when Callie finally allowed me to take pictures for first day of school.

Everything was so messed up we couldn't even do our traditional breakfast at Ricky's. My work and the kids first days didn't align so we ended up going on the Saturday morning. Covid at Ricky's was neat as well. We ended up with a seat in the back and were the only ones there. Carter's first day of school was at a partially new school. They finally finished adding four new classrooms to the front of the school. They managed to blend the old with the new quite nicely though the front of the school doesn't really feel like a school front as the office is halfway down the right side. Nice to get rid of the portables. 

 

Harrison Hot Springs

Covid continues. In August we took a trip to Harrison Hot Springs. Our plan was to hike around Hick's lake. In hindsight we there could have been some excitement as soon as we got there. When we arrived there were some Canada geese by the lake and Callie decided it was a good idea to take Oliver to see them. The geese were kind enough to simply stay out of his way. I'm not really sure what would have happened if the geese had decided to attack Callie. We may have had a goose or two to take home as I think Oliver would have come out on top.

The hike itself was pretty easy though it did take us a while to get to the trailhead. We knew to walk through a campground to get to it but when all we found was a forrest road we were a bit confused. Turns out about half of the hike was just an old forestry road. Carter does not like these kinds of hikes so he was less than engaged in the first half of the hike. Eventually though it did turn to roots and rocks so he was happy by the end of the hike. One day it would be great to go on a hike where everyone is happy the whole way. The camp sites we saw were very nice with private beach access. Nice place to camp.

After the hike we stopped in Harrison for lunch. Covid protocols existed but were somewhat lax. Most restaurants did have outdoor seating only but there weren't many people wearing masks. BC has done okay during Covid but I feel a big part of it is luck. I had Fish and Chips and the family had burgers and chicken fingers at another stop. We also stopped for ice cream before heading home. We did drive past a few houses to see what recreational property would look like in Harrison. It seems we've been priced out of such luxuries. Most places are either way to expensive or really not worth it due to location, condition etc. Will have to keep looking. 

Summer Trip to Prince George

We took our annual summer trip to Prince George this past weekend. The weather was nice so of course we spent most of the weekend at West Lake where my family has had property since the area was first settled. Things had gotten a little overgrown in recent years but recently my brother has been spending more time out there and has done a good job of up keep. We worked on continuing to support the shore with some wire cages backfilled with rocks. He's moved the fire place farther up from the beach which is good because it doesn't get washed away each year. It also helps that he's cut back much of the brush so it's safe to have a fire there.

My job was to take the canoe around the corner from our beach to grab some larger rocks out of the lake. There is an area where rocks wash out of the bank that is slowly eroding and tumble into the water. I figure they aren't really supporting anything anymore and they are in the lake so they are fair game. We needed to find as many large flat rocks as possible. I laid a piece of plywood down in the canoe before loading up 6-8 rocks which probably way close to 200 pounds. I did at least a half dozen trips and got enough rocks for the next cage and some nice ones for pathways. I did a bit of digging for the cage but left the rest for my brother as I ran out of time to help more.

This was our first trip back since were here last summer to celebrate the life of my Grandmother. We had made a small garden and spread some of her ashes here. All of the major plants had come back as the weather has been quite rainy this year. Hopefully my mom and brother are able to keep the plants going. It can be difficult as they aren't there every weekend. I also noticed that the bench GG had received from a picnic at the local mill was in need of repair. Several years ago I had replaced the legs and used the original seat slats but now those seat slats are reaching end of life. I will try to repair it next summer.

One of the other highlights of our trip was my nephew Lucas. He's almost two and although he doesn't say much, his facial expressions are all that's needed to get his point across. He spent quite a bit of time just wandering around my brother's back yard and you knew when he wasn't happy about something. He gets a bit frown on his face, puts his arms in front of him and gives you quite the look. He is not a fan of the word no.

We also got to see several of the family pets. Bailey is my brother Eric's dog and she is initially quite skittish but quickly warms up to you once she realizes you are allowed to be there. Our dog is not always friendly with animals that are bigger than him but we managed to acclimate them to each other without any blood being spilled. We also saw Shadow the dog and Yoda the cat. Domestic animals weren't the only animals we saw. Carter counted a bear, a loon, an eagle, a king fisher, a fox, a chipmunk and several others while we were there. We can sometimes go up and not see any of those so it was definitely a wild animal filled weekend.

On the Saturday my brother booked us a tee time at Pine Valley. As he was driving by he noticed they had a sign for foot golf. We had never played and weren't sure what we could expect. After a bit of a wait we were given the go ahead and discovered Pine Valley had added large 2 foot diameter holes with their own flags to their course. The par was slightly higher then normal golf and you went in-between regular golfers. I was doing well until I injured a quad, though I still ended up with a 5 under and second place behind a 6 under. It was nice that you got to kick the foot ball into a hole versus just trying to hit the pin or something similar. I would recommend you try it at least once. We were only up for 3 days but we packed it full of fun and continue to look forward to it each year.

Salt Spring Island - Day 3 - We made it! (Barely)

We had no more real destinations for our last day but we also didn't have to catch our ferry until 3:30 so we started to drive north so we could say we checked out the entire island. We went to 'Southy Point' which seems poorly named since it's on the North end of the island and then went to Beddies Beach. We should have gone there on the first day since it was a great beach to just hang out at. We finished off the day with a final wander around Ganges. Salt Spring during Covid means it's mostly closed on the weekends so this was our first opportunity to check out some of the stores downtown.

We then headed to the ferry which should have been the end of our adventure however Callie decided she had to go to the bathroom 30 minutes before the ferry was scheduled to leave. I wasn't initially worried since that seemed like plenty of time but about 1 minute after she left the car they gave us the warning that it was time to go back to your car. Instead of heeding this warning, Callie still went to the bathroom. Kerry came back from a short hike nearby to find no Callie and our row moving. She was not impressed.

Our panicked decision involved me getting out to try to find her while Kerry slowly drove to the dock. She was forced to get on and I was left with Callie on the dock with no wallet and no cell phone. BC Ferries staff were excellent and gave us temporary boarding passes to walk on. The adventure continued when Kerry went up stairs and forgot she was waiting for Carter who had left to go find a vending machine. We also had to nurse Oliver the whole time who did not like being on a ferry and was too warm in the car. We finished things up by draining our battery trying to keep him cool. BC Ferries to the rescue again with their portable battery for a boost. A fun weekend adventure.

Salt Spring Island - Day 2 - Lavender, Goats and Beer

We started day two at Ruckle Provincial Park. It was on the South East side of the island and promised some good hikes along the water. When we got there and were in the woods a bit it seemed cold but once we got into the sun, despite the wind it was a great day for a hike. We walked along the ocean for a bit before heading inland. The park includes a working farm and with Oliver with us we were limited on where we could go. I think I would like to go back at some point without a dog.

We didn't do a lot of research on where to go on Salt Spring other than looking up "Top 10 things to do on Salt Spring". On this list included a local goat cheese farm. There were chickens in the yard and lots of options for goat cheese. I stayed in the car so I still haven't had a chance to taste any of it yet but Kerry and the kids insist it is excellent. The social distancing at the goat farm was well done and Kerry was surprised at how knowledgable the teenaged staff was.

I think the highlight for me was the lavender farm. It wasn't very big but they had quite a few products and the owners were happy to share their trade. I bought a lavender plant as well as an Immortal plant to try in my garden. They gave me some tips on where to plant, how to water and most importantly how to trim it back each year. Lavender grows from the top of the last years growth so you want to cut it back as far as you can without going past the current year. It means it gets a bit bigger each year but I can then use cuttings to get new plants.

After one more farm that makes beer we headed back to the cabin to wander around and think about plans for dinner. Our cabin is just up from a small lake that included a dock and some water sport equipment. The lake looked swimmable though we didn't find the time to try it out ourselves. Carter and I also discovered that our Cabin has the potential for another full floor on it. For some reason it's just set up as a crawl space but you could definitely put a room down there. Maybe a good investment opportunity. We went back to Ganges for dinner for calamari and pizza on the boardwalk.

Salt Spring Island - Day 1 - The Dog Table

I've finally made it to Salt Spring Island. It's the largest of the Gulf Islands and to be honest the only other island I've been to is Bowen. Salt Spring has appealed to me because there is apparently quite the artists community and I was hoping to see some interesting makers. We took a direct ferry there and as we were docking we could see the tiny dock which was somewhat disconcerting for Kerry. It didn't really look like there was even room for cars to drive off.

Our first stop after we got off was Salt Spring Wild Cider and it was pretty much what I was expecting for the entire island. A quaint tasting building with some food options and quite a few people coming and going. I was glad to see it was outdoors but I will admit there were a few too many people without masks for my liking. We found this the entire weekend. I think Salt Spring is waiting for their first case before they get really strict.

We then headed to our 'Cabin' which was available after 3:00p. It was a full sized house and had been recently renovated. We were only staying two days so we found the nicest place that could take dogs. After checking in we went to downtown Ganges to find dinner. Carter has been missing a sit down dinner so we did find some place where we could order and stay. They happened to have a nice out door table for people with dogs at the Burger Shack. Carter and I both had the Fish n Chips which was quite delicious.

Attending a Conference in Oliver

Two weeks ago Kerry and the kids went up to Oliver to help take care of Kerry's Dad who had just had hip surgery. They had to shorten their visit due to commitments related to Callie's dance before and after the weekend so they wanted to go back the following weekend. I looked after Oliver the first weekend and stayed in Surrey but was able to go up the second weekend. With the new 'Work From Home' model I now have the option of shifting what 'Home' is and didn't technically have to take any time off. We drove up on Saturday and I attended a conference from the basement during the week before coming home on Tuesday.

It was nice being able to work during the day and then head over to the lake or the park with Carter in the evening . I also got put to work helping solve some dog digging issues in the backyard. We went to buy rocks in the morning and I spent my lunch time placing the rocks. It was a quick 4 day trip but I could get used to working in Oliver instead of Surrey. I fully expect that there will be additional people who will try to find ways of working far from their previous home base.

The Big Pause - Day 90 - June 9 - The New Normal

When I started this blog at the beginning of the Covid outbreak I wasn't intending to do it daily forever. I figured I would do it until life got back to normal. Little did I know that 90 days in and we are still a long ways from normal and may never get back to where we were. Things are open in BC but physical distancing rules are still in place and will remain until a vaccine is found. The disease is to prevalent across the world to ever go away. Sports and movies aren't back but that will come. The disease has died down in the news and likely will be lower in the summer. From now on I'll go back to blogging bigger life events. With no travel, there won't be many of those for a while. Most people expect the disease count in North America will jump again in the fall based on similar diseases. This time full shut down likely won't be seen as an option. Unfortunately I think we've grown numb to the numbers and will just accept a percentage of the population dying each month. I suppose it's not that much different from third world countries with malaria and other third world countries. The difference here is it's impacting the first world.

I got the tops of the cabinets glued up and cut to size..... The new normal.

The Big Pause - Day 89 - June 8 - The Wrong Colour

The day started like every other Monday. Roll out of bed and turn on my work computer to do a bit of work before breakfast. I find I can get ready for the day by doing 30 minutes of e-mail checking and planning. I'm working on some projects with people in India and Denmark so I get emails at all hours of the day. The weather was nice again so I went for my regular bike ride. I think I need to find a new route. I like the one I'm doing but there are probably some other areas of the neighborhood I should explore. In the evening I was hoping to get the top for the cabinets glued up but when I planed the wood I noticed that one of my pieces was a very different colour then the other pieces. It was going to be in the back of the counter but it was different enough that it would still be noticeable. I will have to see if I can take Kerry to work tomorrow so I can use the car to go to Windsor Plywood to get another piece.

The Big Pause - Day 88 - June 7 - Historic Stewart Farm

I've been somewhat negligent in my volunteering duties this year but I'm likely not the only one. I volunteer in the garden at Historic Stewart farm and I've been out a couple times but not as much as I usually do. For March/April I wasn't quite sure if we were supposed to go in and we were occupied with other things. Sunday was supposed to rain but looked clear in the morning so I headed out to the farm. People have definitely been there because everything is  cleaned up though some of the areas need some thinning. I worked on the native garden which has been my area for the past few years. Looked much better when I was done.

After the garden I headed into the office to pick up a package. I had ordered a set of masks from the BC Children's hospital through the Power Pioneers and they delivered them to my office. It was a bit depressing going into work after almost three months. Hand sanitizer and arrows were everywhere and the place seemed empty even for a weekend. I picked up some more things from my desk and got my masks. They are well made but a bit small for me. I've not had good luck finding a comfortable mask other than the disposable ones. I will keep looking.

The Big Pause - Day 87 - June 6 - Floating Steps

Carter and I took a road trip to Langley this morning. Parks opened this week and he really wanted to go to the Parkour Park in Langley where they have some more interesting obstacles that are very similar to what is on the American Ninja Warrior. We tried everything but we really concentrated on the "Floating Steps". They are some 45 degree platforms that you jump back and forth on. With a bit of coaching from me he managed to master them. They aren't really that complicated but you definitely have to commit when you're doing them. After about 50 tries he was doing them with ease.

After the park we had a few errands to run including Windsor Plywood, Port Kells and Lee Valley. Each of them has their own physical distancing measures. Windsor Plywood is low volume and you can move about easily. Port Kells has moved outside and we did curbside pickup at Lee Valley. I hope they keep curbside pickup at Lee Valley. It was much easier. In the evening I got caught up on blogging and planted the final vegetables in the garden. Some peppers, cucumbers and some sort of chocolate tomato.

The Big Pause - Day 86 - June 5 - No Beef Patties

I finished painting the doors today. I had the first coat of primer on already and just needed to put the finish coats on. I was able to do it on breaks during the day. It's a welcome change from work and a more efficient use of my time. I find it's important to "cleanse by palette" when working where I do something completely different then my current task. Sometimes it's work related, sometimes its a walk and in this case it was painting some doors. I used spray paint on the doors and they came out well. I wish I had a proper spray booth for my sprayer but this works well too.

After work I went in for my 89th blood donation. Kerry had the car so I biked there. As long as I move slowly when I come back, biking seems like a perfectly valid way of getting to and from. There were more new rules. For instance I had to have my temperature taken before going in and I had to wear a mask. My temperature was only 95.9 even though I had just biked 3 km to get there. I guess I run a bit cooler than most people though I should probably take my temperature regularly to see what normal for me is. Might be relevant when I think I have a fever. I picked up KFC on the way home and it was lucky that I could go in. When we tried to take Carter to Wendy's later, you had to do the drive through or Skip the Dishes. We went back home to get the car and when we got back they said they didn't have any beef. Carter was not happy. More supply chain disruptions.

The Big Pause - Day 85 - June 4 - Back to School

Carter went back to school today. As Kerry was leaving for work there was talk of a stomach ache but by the time he had to leave he didn't seem too worried. I think the total number of kids is under 50 each day at his school. He's not with his regular teacher and he's in a portable but he seemed to enjoy being back with kids even though none of his regular friends went. In the evening I got caught up on a new show. DC's Stargirl is another one of these ones with an 80's and 90's feel to them. Less about smart phones and the internet and more about people interactions. First three episodes were good.

The Big Pause - Day 84 - June 3 - Too Many Peanuts

Things got a bit out of control today. I had a large meeting at work that I was organizing and I had to do a prep in the morning to make sure things went smoothly. This meant I was a bit careless with the peanut bag when feeding Covid. After she finished with the peanuts on the picnic table she got into the bag I had left on the garden bench. Only a few peanuts extra. Kerry got home after 8:00 pm. First week of school has been hectic. Carter goes to his first day of school tomorrow. He's a bit nervous but I think he'll be fine. I have no worry about spreading the disease. There are only a handful of active cases left in BC.

The Big Pause - Day 83 - June 2 - Advanced Dish Washer Repair

I Installed the second cabinet base today. I designed them with extended edges on the right and back left so that I could scribe to the wall. The one cabinet needed scribing on the back but everything else was pretty straight. I still have to put some baseboard around the bottoms but that can come later. I also had to 'fix' the dishwasher today. I like to wait a day before attempting to do a repair because it gives me a chance to think about the simple things that might be wrong. In this case the issue was that it was set to "Rinse Only". The last time it was a knife sticking out into the water sensor. I imagine repair people get lots of calls like this.

The Big Pause - Day 82 - June 1 - George Floyd

The protests continue in the states. I've posted a few items that try to point out to people what systemic racism is. The most poignant one for me is the "All Lives Matter" comeback. If someone had a family member die of breast cancer and they asked that you donate to the breast cancer society, how many people would respond with the phrase "All Cancers Matter". They wouldn't. It's these subtle "keep you down' things that prevent real change. I'm learning about the basic law changes that various groups are asking for to reduce confrontations with police. I've also seen people comment with things like. "Do they even know what they want?". The answer is yes. These ideas aren't new. What is new is that more people are listening. Hopefully our "blackface" Prime Minister initiates some real change, whether it be for natives or blacks. We need to pull control back from the "make xyz great again" groups. There is no reason we can't make things great for everyone. Not just those that have some vague memory of when they felt things were great.

The Big Pause - Day 81 - May 31 - Ninja Warrior

Carter has been watching American Ninja Warrior a lot during the epidemic and has wanted to try out some of the movies at the park but all the parks are closed. As of this weekend they have finally re-opened and we went down to Fleetwood Park because they have some complex monkey bars. He started a bit too quick and has some blisters already but once those heal he has lots of plans to improve his skills. The last few days there have been protests that at times have turned into riots down in the US. The spark was the death of George Floyd but economy and Covid have helped to fan the flames. I home it doesn't cause Covid to get a hold again.

The Big Pause - Day 80 - May 30 - Doors

I got started on the doors today. I had already cut the poplar to rough size so it could acclimate for a few days. It stays straighter this way as I've already released the tension in the wood when I cut it smaller. I managed to get the doors milled and assembled. Tomorrow I will paint. For dinner we had another family movie night. Carter ordered popcorn, hot dogs and nachos. We watched Get Smart as a family and then I stayed up late and watched the Invisible Man. It was a new take on it in that it was a suit rather than some sort of science experience. Still dealt with terrorizing a woman though.

The Big Pause - Day 79 - May 29 - A Visit from Uncle Mitchel

A bit of excitement today. Kerry's parents were talking to some friends and one of them needed a ride down to Surrey. They volunteered to drive them with plans to stop by our house for a physically distant lunch before heading back home. We weren't especially strict about staying apart but there weren't any hugs with the exception of the puppies on both sides of the families. Oliver was excited to see his Uncle Mitchel who is a Labradoodle. He doesn't have access to grass at his house and he and Oliver had a great time running around in the back yard. Mitchell is a bit skittish so I decided to chase him around. I think it actually helped. We ordered McDelivery for lunch and Carter made a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. It was quite delicious. Kerry came home for lunch but then she didn't get home until after 7:30 pm. They are spending a lot of time getting ready for kids to go back next week. There seems to be a big discrepancy in the amount of planning each school is doing. Should be interesting next week.

The Big Pause - Day 78 - May 28 - Carcasses Ready for Paint

Slow progress on the shelves. I've now got the cases done and they just need a sanding and a coat of paint before I install them. On the weekend I'll start on the doors. I'm using a mix of materials and techniques. The plywood is all pre-finished birch which is very nice to work with and I like that I get a good quality finish for the inside areas. It does mean I have to use different techniques to build them because I can't sand any of the inside areas. I've been using mostly pocket holes, dadoes and a bit of glue and with the right techniques I end up with something that is very sturdy.