Canada Day Week (+)

The celebration of Canada Day began last Thursday here in Lockeport. So far we have had 2 crib tournaments,, a pancake breakfast, an outdoor market, a Hit, Run and Throw contest (for the kids), a Soap-box Derby (for the kids), a community variety show, a bake sale, 3 dances for kids, teens and seniors (the latter with a live country band), and a pet show. In addition, today is high-school graduation and prom - lots of kelly green mortar boards and grad robes (school colours) at lunch time while pictures were being taken. There's another dance tonight (but it doesn't even start until 10:00PM - probably because of the prom.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY - it doesn't matter that it's not July 1st - the important thing is it isn't a SUNDAY. So the park has food and craft booths, face painting, games, tattoos (temporary only of course), raffles etc. There is a greased pole contest in the harbour, international dory races, strawberry shortcake festival (out of one of the churches - couldn't do that on Sunday), a children's parade, a Grand Street Parade (including 100 cars since this is Lockeport's 100th anniversary as a town), 2 concerts - one free on the waterfront in the afternoon and an evening one with 4 bands (one of them a blues band - the Hupman Brothers -which we've heard before and they are excellent) and a beer garden.

On Sunday, there is an official opening (flag raising and cake cutting) - perhaps it's a little late but oh well. Then a Bake Walk(?) , a Poker Walk(?), a sidewalk chalk contest, a community church service and gospel concert, a community picnic, another dance with the fireworks inserted at 10:00PM. The fireworks is usually 30 minutes long - quite an expense for a very small town.

Monday we all rest.

Canada Day here is more action-packed and well-planned than Kristina's Birthday Week. She'll have to do some serious upgrading for next year to compete.

A Company Worth Knowing

Three years ago, we bought a shower stall in Ottawa from Home Depot - it was a Maax product and seemed nice and roomy (38") and came in a nice flat box which we could easily transport to Lockeport. At that time, we were just about to begin renovating our downstairs bathroom. Due to the awkward shape of that room we finally decided it would be better to put the shower upstairs when we got around to doing the second bath.

That renovation began last summer and required much shoring up of old floor beams that had been cut into various times over the years for other bathroom work by other owners. By the end of last summer, we had wallboard up and tile on the floor but no plumbing done. 2 weeks ago our plumber, Jerry, finally hooked everything up and with his helper (another Gerry) installed the 3 year-old never-used shower stall. It was then necessary for me to patch the drywall around the shower and sand, paint etc.

Monday, I finally tried out the new shower - alas we had a leak which turned out to be a lack of sealing putty in the drain - fixed by Jerry the next day. I also managed to knock out one of the pieces of plastic ribbon on the bottom of the shower door (the stuff that keeps the water IN the shower). Of course I broke it trying to reinsert it - it was only about 1 1/2 inches long but I still should have removed the door for correct installation. Later that morning, I was in Liverpool at Curves so I went to Home Hardware with my broken piece - nope, none there but a very helpful clerk looked up Mr. Plumber in Wileville (inland from Bridgewater) and suggested I try them since calling the manufacturer would be such a long protracted method of dealing with my problem.

I returned home and rather than call Mr. Plumber, I perversely dug out the installation manual for the shower and low and behold, there was an "after sales service" number. I called and got an actual human being and asked if I could order the part (the part number was on the installation directions). She said I had to speak to a technician. This gentleman was willing to help me figure out what model I had and therefore what exact part I needed - since I knew those, he took my name and address and said the part would be sent Tuesday and I'd have it before the end of the week. There was no question of me paying for it or how old the shower was - just "we'll send one".

This morning (Thursday), the part arrived at the post office - Express Post for a free part.

If you need to purchase any sort of bathroom fixtures, take a look at what Maax has to offer - best service I can remember from any company when I've had a problem.

Let's change the name to Lockeport Meltings!

It's now 31C with a humidex of 38C - still not as bad as Ottawa (41C) but certainly the hottest I've ever felt here.

Fog returns; Fish are DONE!!

After no fog since June 16th, it returned with a vengeance yesterday evening - within about 10 minutes we went from bright and clear to pea soup. It was still around this morning but quickly burned off as we are having a HOT day - the humidex is 31 or 32C - not very hot for those in Ontario but debilitating for the Lockeport population. Of course it's making the bugs multiply exponentially and the grass grow similarly. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same.

The momentous news is that I have finished my fish rug (over 3 years - almost 4, I think). It was originally intended to hang over the fireplace in the living room but Heather V. painted us a great picture of our house here which has claimed that spot. I was looking for a place to prop up my rug to look at it (modestly admiring all my hard work)and I draped it on the fireplace screen - it looks wonderful there so it's found a home. Picture will follow when Wayne gets here with the digital camera. Now I need a new project - I'm thinking of doing our red cottage in Maine.

Technology rears its ugly head

Well! I failed Technology 101 already. Chris has just let me know that my blog was displaying in Webdings (huh?) - at least the text body - the rest looked fine. It all looked fine to me on my computer. I have attempted to edit the font and it should be Verdana or some such thing now. (Actually this is all a plot to try and post something as confusing for Chris as his Mozilla posts are to me!!!)

I'm now working on links - I should be able to do lots of things incorrectly there.

Deer me!

As I was washing the breakfast dishes this morning, looking out the kitchen window, suddenly a doe came crashing up the hill through all the grass and wildflowers I haven't yet got around to cutting. She was moving very quickly, leaping high in the way a deer in full flight moves. She disappeared along the north side of the house and by the time I ran to the front windows she was gone. Did she sail over the front wall and down the drop of 8 feet or so to the street? Then what or where?

How did she get into Lockeport? - perhaps an early morning stroll on the beach ending in paved roads and confusion. The actual access to town is very narrow for an animal to stumble onto it. There is certainly enough space in town for a deer to graze quite successfully but I think the poor thing will likely be venison steaks within a few hours - it's just going to be too hard for her to avoid being hit in such an alien environment.And we certainly aren't used to seeing deer right in town, although they are everywhere else in rural Nova Scotia.

I hope she survives.

Moving into the 21st Century

In an effort to connect to my former lives, I have decided it is time I embraced a wee bit more technology and attempted to get connected in a more meaningful way that just using email.

So here it is - my first attempt at blogging - hopefully there will be the occasional valid comment for me to make on the state of my world (or the greater world outside of Lockeport).

!'m glad I have so many competent family members to consult when I have problems doing this. Stand by with the life boats, please!