Where Did I Put That Shovel?

Well, the weather changed to the winter side of the calendar today. I was sitting in Tim Horton’s and there was rain, then some sleet and finally snow pellets. It always seems to come as a bit of a surprise, no matter how prepared you are for the change.

It wasn’t terribly cold, just hovering around zero C, but considering that it was 25° yesterday it is a wake up call. It’s funny how when it dips down to freezing or just below freezing in the fall it feels so cold, but come February the same temperature is cause to leave your coat unbuttoned and maybe even carry it on your arm. Same thing, different perspective.

 

I have been helping my son with the building of the Great Wall, He and his wife call it a fence, but if we are ever invaded I plan to make my stand in their backyard. Even though the weather had turned a little ugly, it was what I consider pretty good working weather…if you are dressed for it. Yes, it was a little muddy, I should have worn a toque instead of a ball cap, and it was more comfortable wearing gloves than not wearing gloves, but not really that bad all in all. His lovely wife Tara (the job supervisor), told us that we were nuts and decided to supervise from the heated comfort of the house. We soldiered on and made pretty good progress until the light and near frozen extremities caused us to pack it in. We will be able to finish on the next good day and since the forecast is calling for snow tomorrow there is a good chance that we will get a break.

I just read Brendan’s Facebook comment about the work tonight. “Learned a valuable lesson about asking for help with yard work from a man who literally took an oath to ignore the weather...” It isn’t true of course, but he is more right than wrong. You do get used to working out in all kinds of weather and just sort of shrug off the unpleasant days, focusing on the nice ones. I remember telling Louise once when we were watching some guys that were doing repairs on hydro lines in the winter, that “I’m glad I don’t work outside!” She looked at me like I was an idiot and said “You do work outside...IDIOT!”

My point was that even though I did technically work outside, I was continually moving and generating warmth whereas those poor buggers had to work standing still. Big difference.

I brought in the last of the tomatoes and did a very little winterizing. It will warm up again soon enough and I will do the big push then. Our leaves are still mostly on the trees and the ducks haven’t even elected the flight leader yet. I guess they are in the primaries.

Well, tomorrow is another day and there is a possibility that I may need to shovel a couple of centimetres before heading out in the morning. Now, where did I put that shovel?

Do Something Yourself

We humans are funny creatures. Not funny in the traditional sense, but funny in the sense that we feel that people who have a talent or ability should not only entertain us, but also take our suggestions.

When I was in high school, I had quite a few friends that were very good guitarists. Well, I thought they actually performed magic when they picked up the guitars and somehow made those random pieces of wood; steel and lacquer do their bidding. Not only could I listen to them for hours, I actually did listen to them for hours. I don’t know why I didn’t try to learn from them, but I didn’t. My loss I suppose. These were such nice people, that they would actually take suggestions as to what we would like to hear and proceed to get their tuning straight so that they could play their very best. Asshole that I am, I would kid them about how long it took to tune and wouldn’t it be nice if they actually played a song all the way through. I still say that and I don’t think I have gotten a reaction in years.

Why do we feel that we have the right to make suggestions at all? You don’t tell your dentist or surgeon that you would like to see them do a different procedure because you are bored with what they are doing. I used to do retirement carvings for my friends at the Post Office that were severing the cord. Invariably, someone or several someone’s would make suggestions about what I should have done. I’m not saying the suggestions were wrong, but at least I did a carving, even if it was missing something. I guess if I had asked beforehand I might have gotten the suggestions then, but in my mind that would have derailed the creative process.

It is the same with this blog. I don’t get too many suggestions about content, but every now and then someone will suggest a topic. There is some dickhead in the Ukraine or Russia that thinks I should focus on penile enhancements or Viagra. Normally I will look thoughtful, smile and then say “Hmmmm…that could work.” There isn’t much chance I will do it, but you never know. I think some people think that I actually put some thought into the blog, but any regular reader knows that just isn’t so.

Today, someone suggested that I should write a blog about his tire predicament. It seems that his tires have 80% of tread left and for some reason one can’t be used anymore. The tire people at Costco (where the tires came from) can’t sell him a replacement tire because they don’t carry that brand anymore. So, basically he is stuck having to buy four new tires. That sucks pretty much big time! These companies have you by the short and curlies and there is nothing you can do about it. There is a company called Sleep Country and their President and spokesperson is Christine McGee. They say in their commercials that if you can find a better price for a mattress you will get a discount…get it free…get a matching price…etc. The catch is that they order from the manufacturer and are the only company that carries that particular brand and model so no one else could possible match their price. Now, is this sleezy, skeezy business practice or just good business sense?

To my friend with the tire problem, I think you are screwed and stuck with three perfectly good tires that you will be storing until you find a match on  Kijiji. Thanks for the blog suggestion and I will continue to suggest songs for my friends, but what I really suggest is that you get out there and do something yourself.