The Big Pause - Day 55 - May 5 - Beavers and Squirrels

Kerry and Callie started the day early again. They are enjoying getting up early and heading out for morning wildlife photography. I think it makes them grumpier the rest of the day but at least they are happy in the morning. Kerry managed to break her luck of never seeing any animals. Getting out earlier allowed them to see the beavers before too many people show up and scare them away. They also saw a deer and of course lots of ditch birds also known as cranes. They always seem to be in the ditch fishing.

I had my own plans for creature photography that were closer to home. I first saw one of these squirrel picnic tables last year but it appears to have gotten popular during the COVID era. It's a quick project and based on what I've seen so far, it doesn't appear to be difficult to attract squirrels for a photo shoot. We've got at least two squirrels that frequent our backyard and I had wanted to create a nut roost for them for a while. This approach seems like more fun. The whole project needed a single fence board and took 45 minutes. Now to set up the camera.

The Big Pause - Day 54 - May 4 - May the 4th Be With You

Carter had big plans for May the 4th this year but he was thwarted. This was the first year where we decided we would try to do something to celebrate Star Wars day. Carter made Han Cola Cupcakes including a coke cream cheese icing and we picked out an old movie and a new movie to watch. The highlight was going to be Cineplex popcorn but unfortunately they only deliver on the weekends. It was also supposed to be a family affair but Callie wasn't happy that it interfered with her dance schedule. She tried to reschedule May the 4th. In the end we watched Jedi and decided we would try to redo Star Wars day on Mother's day. Maybe next year.

The Big Pause - Day 53 - May 3 - Installing a TV

A rather uneventful Sunday. It was raining quite heavily all day Saturday and cleared up on Sunday afternoon. I managed to get the yard weeded and the garden is starting to look greener. The radishes, Kale and peas are coming along nicely and the carrots are starting to sprout. I always assume my carrots aren't coming up because they take so long but they seem to come up fine eventually. Makes it difficult to weed because you can't get too close. I also cut the lawn and reinstalled the garage door in the morning.

 In the afternoon we got a package in the mail we weren't expecting. Amazon Prime has not been very quick lately due to the increase in online shopping and the mount for Carter's TV wasn't expected until Monday but came a day earlier. We installed his new TV and hooked up his Play Station so now he can avoid run-ins with his sister. The TV was $299 and the mount was $27. My first TV 30 years ago was $499. I'm amazed at how low they've managed to keep prices for electronics.

The Big Pause - Day 52 - May 2 - Painting a Door

Two years ago I bought some paint. Today I used that paint. The door leading into our garage was terribly marked up and the paint on it was deteriorating. My assumption is that the previous owners used indoor paint when they tried to paint over the old green doors. The paint they used seemed to be turning to dust and was impossible to clean. I took the door off Saturday morning and spent an hour or so sanding down the old paint and prepping it for new Rustoleum paint designed for outdoors. The sanding went much quicker than I was expecting. My orbital sander worked great on the flat parts and I had a sanding sponge for the profiles. The painting went not too bad but drying took much too long. It was about 17 degrees out and I had no door so what should have been 4-6 hours at room temperature was still tacky after 6. I created some supports by taping over some wood and flipped the door and did the second side. I was worried it would stick permanently but luckily it came off with no damage. Two year task complete.

In between coats I went over to the trail to pick up garbage. It's a bit spooky walking through the woods around here because there are homeless people in some of the empty lots so when I heard a knocking sound that seemed to be only feet away I was a bit freaked out. Turns out it was a wood pecker pecking into a stump. Based on the amount of wood around the stump he's been using this tree for food for a while. It's about half the original diameter and only about 10 feet tall. I'm not saying he chopped it down but he probably made it fall quicker than it would have without him. I'm assuming it was a him. I'll have to do some research on which of the wood peckers is more colorful. This one had a lovely red head dress on.

The Big Pause - Day 51 - May 1 - Fire at the Mister Lube

I've been mixing my bike rides up for the past few weeks. Surrey is a big grid so I've been trying to take a different grid route each time. Today I made sure to head down 152nd and Fraser Highway. It seems the Mister Lube had a fire last night and I wanted to see the damage. I was a little suspicious because this is now the 3rd fire on the new Sky-train route. It appears the damage wasn't so bad but that was likely because they are literally next door to the fire department. They wouldn't even have had to get in their trucks. Just hook up the hose and spray over the fence.

After work, Carter and I headed to Home Depot. I know we are supposed to stay home but I don't think we're going to get to zero cases and we have to figure out how to live our lives. This means standing in line ups out side so that the number of people inside is kept to a minimum. I wanted to get some 6 x 6 post caps so I could figure out how big my pathway lights needed to be.

After Home Depot, Carter reminded me about the need for a TV for his room. His sister has one because we had a spare so it seems I didn't have a choice but to get one for him. Just a small one mounted to the wall. His conditions for purchase were that he can't get mad at me when he doesn't win at 21 in basketball. So far it's working.

For dinner Carter and I had McDelivery and Kerry and Callie had Indian food. I should also mention that the kids had a Pro-D day. Not sure that means anything anymore.

The Big Pause - Day 50 - April 30 - Cutting the Lawn

I would love to have something more exciting accomplished to title this blog post but 'Cutting the Lawn' is all I've got. April is now behind us and by my count we are now 50 days into this. It seems like forever but in the grand scheme of things is nothing. All the major wars went for years and were much more impact-full than what we've had to deal with. The one similarity though is that there is no specific end in sight. Our leaders throw around dates like 'January' but really no one knows how long this will be. I'll probably feel better once one of the Disney parks opens and remains open for at least 4 weeks. At least then we can start thinking about what kind of vacation we would want to go on so we have something proper to look forward to. The numbers in BC still inch up but most seem to come in batches with facilities like jails or nursing homes. This is a good sign. I actually think BC will be one of the first provinces to open things up like hair salons and restaurants with room to social distance. In the meantime I'll keep cutting the lawn.

The Big Pause - Day 49 - April 29 - Garbage Day!

After about 7 weeks I finally got the last of the green bin waste and dirt off the front driveway. Every day for the past 7 weeks I've filled the extra large green bin to completely full and even added some waste to the neighbors bins in the middle of the night. I didn't feel like paying to take it to the transfer station. I also brought out the pressure washer and cleaned off the basketball court. It was a bit of a pain playing basketball because the ball would end up in a dirt party every few shots.

I also got a delivery from Lee Valley. I've been trying to figure out the best way of lighting our front walkway and I was tired of purchasing the garden lights that eventually stop working. If it was just a matter of replacing the rechargeable batteries I'd be fine, but usually the solar cells deteriorate as well. I'd like to do something a bit more interesting that will last 'forever' meaning that I can repair and refurbish them if they get worn. I have some thoughts on a concrete post with a wood top and a small led with a deflector that directs the light onto the walk way. The fun part is that it comes with a color controller so I can have different colors based on season. Halloween Orange, Christmas green or red etc. Now to figure out how to cast the concrete and attach the wood. Should be fun.