Finishes and endings

My mostly Easter, a little bit of spring display on top of the China cabinet. It's the only real space I have for display here in this house.

Well, our men's team did not win the World Championship, but did bring home a bronze. They played Scotland in the semi-final and, as had happened earlier in the week, lost the game. It certainly was their worst game of the week. On Sunday, they were up against China in the bronze medal game and it was a blow-out for Canada. I tend not to pay much attention when the score gets lop-sided, so I can't tell you what the final score was. 

Scotland took on Switzerland in the final, and came out on top winning the World's for the second time in three years. What made this more interesting was a "Battle of the Sexes" charity skins game they were in the following day. Team Mouat (Scotland) played Team Homan (Canada). The Canadian women won the World's, so it was also two World champions facing off. There were some great shots on both sides, however Homan was only able to win one of the skins, Mouat and crew won the other seven. I didn't watch the presentation but I presume that the companies providing the prize money/charity donations likely evened it up. 

D and I tackled housework on Monday, and the main floor and upstairs were vacuumed and tidied up. I won't tell you what the basement looked (looks) like, as Eli had a friend over to play on Saturday. Let's just say it is a bit of a disaster down there. I have a puzzle set out on a table in the basement but will avoid the area until D and Eli spend some time tidying.

On Tuesday I made a run into the nearby community to visit the Service Canada office. My passport will expire in December, and while I have no immediate plans to travel outside of Canada, I wanted to ensure it was renewed. Unlike the office in the city, where one drops off the paperwork, in this small office a representative takes care of everything on line, scans the documents and prepares the package while you're there. The photos have to be processed elsewhere, and the return time is longer; about 4-5 weeks versus 10-15 days, but the process seemed more personable.

The woman assisting me, was asking about travel plans and I mentioned our trip to Nova Scotia this June. She originally grew up in New Brunswick and we chatted about the places I visited when I was there with friends in 2016. Of course, I had to ask how she and her family ended up here. Not unexpectedly it was her husband's work (mining), and they live in a small community nearby.

After dropping off several bags of donations at the local thrift store, I did a walk through the store. I found some divided plates for Eli, some silicone molds for D, and a travel tea mug (with strainer) for myself. A quick stop at the grocery store for a few items and I was home by 11 a.m. It was a productive morning.

Out of curiosity, I did a search for the tea mug on the internet. I just about fell over, when I discovered it is currently selling for $140 on the Canadian Amazon site. I paid just under $3 for it. 

Some sad news, I called my son that evening and he told me he'd had to surrender Shadow. Apparently Sage had taken a dislike to the puppy. I'm not certain if she got aggressive, but clearly the relationship wasn't good. He was quite disappointed, and has decided to wait a year or two before considering getting a second dog. I've encouraged him to get the two of them (he and Sage) enrolled in obedience classes. Sage has shown signs of aggressiveness towards other dogs on walks, so it's best to deal with those issues while she is still fairly young, about 16 months or so.

Wednesday's photo was taken on Monday evening. The snow is melting as the temperatures are starting to rise, and with rain in the forecast it should disappear more quickly. I saw my first junco that morning too, followed by two robins on Thursday...spring is definitely here! Here's how the backyard looked on Friday afternoon:

The front yard is nearly clear as it faces south. I suspect most of the snow you see here will be gone by early next week.

The next to last* curling event of the season was held this week in Toronto, a Grand Slam of Curling event. The broadcast on Sportsnet was scheduled to start on Thursday afternoon, though I discovered a single draw that was aired the day before. It finished just in time for the Blue Jays game; great timing!

Meanwhile I've done more knitting, another pair of mittens was finished, another toque completed (this one for Eli), and I've cast another toque on the needles. My goal is to finish six pairs of mittens, and three toques before I return to my stitching. My poor hands and wrists are starting to feel a bit painful from the repetitive motions. Definitely time for a break.

D has been busy re-organizing things in her bedroom and basement, and I've been able to empty three boxes of photo albums that have been stored away since at least the summer of 2023 (when I listed my old house). Friday was also the one year anniversary of our move into this house. It's been a great place for all three of us. There are some things we'd like to do it including replacing the exterior doors, replacing a portion of the fence, and addressing the "rock" garden area. Of the three, I anticipate the fence will be the last on the list. The old fence is still standing, though requires some support. Since our next door neighbours rarely mow or weed their back yard, it is tall enough to keep it out of our view. D did report them to the city last summer when the weeds were higher than the 6 foot fence. Can you tell they are renters and not owners? 

On to the weekend, you'll find me watching more curling, more baseball, continuing to knit, and weather permitting, spending some time outdoors. I'd like to tackle the shed and move some snow from the bigger piles so it will melt sooner.

Have a great week ahead everyone!I

*There is a new two day event, the curling all-stars planned for April 15 and 16 in Nashville. It is associated with the Grand Slam brand. I have no idea the what the format will be and don't believe it will be televised. I'll look for a live stream.

Spring baseball

Life sure has a way of throwing curve balls. This week was no exception. It all started on Monday morning, when my kitchen faucets gave up the ghost. I had noticed some water on the floor when washing dishes the night prior, and after mopping it up had put a bucket under the sink. Everything seemed dry in the morning, but when I turned on the faucet I could hear and see dripping coming from the connection where the faucet is attached to the plumbing lines. I'd been putting up with a slow drip from the drinking water faucet and decided it was time to replace the entire set. The house was built back in 1987, and I'm pretty certain these are the originals.

I did some research on the websites of various hardware stores (including big box stores) nearby. It was astounding to me to find that the big box stores keep nothing in stock - at one there were only two faucets available, and both were ridiculously priced and far too large for my current set-up. The local hardware store is a little further away, but appeared to have multiple items in stock. Off I went, photos in hand, to see what I could find. I was in and out in about 20 minutes with the appropriate replacements. The service was great AND they gave me the contractors' pricing which saved me about 10% overall. They still weren't cheap. I contacted the plumber we used last year during the basement renovations and he was able to fit me in that day (after a cancellation), and by mid-afternoon I had a new set of faucets that function properly. One thing I notice is they are much lighter weight than the old ones so likely won't last 30 plus years but I won't be here then.

I did my grocery shopping that morning too, as the fridge was looking pretty bare. The pocketbook took a hit as a result, but I did get most everything on sale. I am starting to see prices drop with some products to a more reasonable level. An 18 pack of eggs was $4.99 and I got a head of lettuce for $1.99 at the Co-op store. Walmart was over $5 for the eggs and $3.97 for lettuce. I'm so fortunate that I live within a 10 minute drive of five grocery stores (includes Walmart). I check my grocery list against the Flipp (flyers) app, and can price-check between stores as well. 

Wednesday brought another problem. The darned water heater's pilot light had again gone out. This was the third time I've requested service in about 6-8 weeks. Of course, the only time they could give me was between 1-5 p.m., which meant I had to miss out on my Stitch and Chat. The tech showed up about 1:30 and left at 2:57 p.m. I know, because I checked the clock! When he arrived I told him this was the third call, and although he was able to re-light the pilot light easily, I asked him to explain why it was happening. He suggested some part needed to be replaced (don't ask me - coupler something or other I think he said). He told me it shouldn't take long to replace and he would have expected the last guy to do it. I said, there was no way he had, he'd only been here for about 10 minutes and took longer to do his paperwork than to do what he did with the water heater. Just to be certain the tech called the previous tech and confirmed that no, he hadn't changed out this piece.  The current tech's optimism at the length of time required to make the replacement was way off! This water heater was installed in Dec. 2006, and apparently they were made differently than they are now which made replacing the part tricky. At one point, it sounded as if he was rebuilding the darn thing.

It's a good thing I did my shopping early in the week and perhaps even missing the Stitch and Chat was a good thing as my son tested positive for Covid on Thursday morning. He had been feeling off for a couple of days, but had gone to work both Wednesday and Thursday. The positive result was almost immediate and the lines were bold. He's off work until next Tuesday, and I'll stay at home too. I tested last night, and so far I am negative. 

Our weather made a big upswing this week, with temperatures staying above the freezing mark, even over night a couple of nights. There was/is snow in the forecast for the weekend and it has cooled off a bit, but the snow has rapidly melted. I have a small pond in my back yard. There was a welcome visitor in the back yard this week too. 

I haven't seen any others, yet, but the wee nuthatch is back, and the sparrows, chickadees, and juncos continue to eat heartily at the feeder. 

We had snow overnight into Friday, but just a skiff or so on the ground. It was melting when I went out to feed the birds and my small pond was closer to a small lake. It's frozen over this morning but we're supposed to reach 7C (45F) this afternoon. I moved a bit of snow from the larger pile in the back yard with the hope that it will disappear faster.

Today is more Grand Slam curling - there are three draws today, tiebreakers, quarter-finals and semi-finals. The women's and men's finals will be held separately tomorrow. This is the second to last event for this year that will be televised. The final Grand Slam is being held here in the city at the beginning of May. I've bought tickets in the past, but this year I'm planning to watch from home.

I'm continuing to work on my flowers (just two more to complete before I start blocking). I got Eli's sweater blocked and picked up a zipper - I need to get a real tailor to put it in for me. In the meantime I made a toque to go with it. When I'm bored with the flowers I do a few stitches on the small cross stitch project. I've made a mistake early on, but I doubt anyone but I will ever know it so I'm soldiering on.

If I'm not watching curling, I've been watching baseball. The Blue Jays broke the Tampa Rays win streak last night in an exciting game. I checked on the game in between ends so missed some of the excitement but did catch enough to enjoy the win.

Have a wonderful week ahead everyone!